


you’re the voice i hear inside my head (the reason that i’m singing)

by oversized_cardiagans



Category: Camp Rock (Movies), Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Camp Rock AU, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, I’m bad a tagging whoops, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:05:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27220156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oversized_cardiagans/pseuds/oversized_cardiagans
Summary: Julie Molina hadn’t planned on going back to Camp Rock, especially not after her mother passed away last summer. She hasn’t  touched a piano or sung a note since then. But, in an attempt to mollify her father and aunt, she decides to stick it out and go. One last summer won’t kill her, right?Meanwhile, Sunset Curve’s summer tour is cancelled after drama between frontman Luke Patterson and manager Caleb Covington. In an attempt to bring some good publicity to the band, the boys return to where it all began: Camp Rock.What happens when two worlds collide?
Relationships: Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Carrie Wilson/Nick (Julie and the Phantoms), Julie Molina & Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina & Flynn, Julie Molina & Luke Patterson, Julie Molina & Nick, Julie Molina & Ray Molina, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Julie Molina/Nick
Comments: 204
Kudos: 570





	1. Putting On A Show

"Make sure you're all packed for tomorrow, _mija_." Ray Molina gave his daughter a reassuring smile as he stood in her doorway. It didn't do much to disguise the worry in his eyes.

Julie did her best to seem excited. "I will." She leaned in, giving her father a kiss on the cheek, which seemed to ease his worry.

" _Te quiero_." Ray murmured.

" _Te quiero, papi_."Julie mused, making sure her door was all the way shut and the sound of Ray's footsteps faded away before letting the facade drop, sighing.

Julie’s suitcase sat open on her bed, the clothes inside folded neatly inside. The rest of her bags sat by the door to her room, all packed and double-checked meticulously by her _tia_ Victoria that day. Victoria had insisted on being with Julie the whole day to make sure she was ready to leave for camp. She’d gone through the packing list half a dozen times, folded and refolded Julie’s clothes, and had even insisted on the two of them going to get their nails done(“ _What will the campers think of you if you have unkempt nails?_ ”). Truth be told, though, Julie knew her aunt was worried that Julie wouldn’t have packed on her own outside her watchful gaze.

Though Julie had spent the last few weeks doing her best to act excited and ready to go back, she knew her family, especially her dad, was waiting for her to take back her decision to go. Julie had gushed so much, her dad had made a point not to mention camp as much, or else risk having Julie talk his ear off for twenty minutes about how excited she was to go canoing on the lake. She’d done a good enough job that even her little brother Carlos was convinced she was genuinely looking forward to going back, and that was no easy feat.

And, though she wouldn’t admit it aloud, there was a part of Julie that really _was_ excited to go back to camp. She'd been going for years, and the months in between sessions used to be spent thinking about what songs she'd perform or what classes she'd sign up for. But after everything that had happened last summer.....well, Julie hadn't even given camp a second thought. In fact, she hadn't even realized her dad had registered her for another summer until she'd found the confirmation letter on the dining room table.

At first, Julie had been adamant, stating that there was no way she was going back there. Several arguments and tense dinners later, Julie hadn't planned on budging. But then, a few weeks ago, she'd overheard her father in the studio, and everything changed.

_Julie stood outside the garage, her hand hovering over the door handle. Why she had ventured out to the studio in the first place, she had forgotten instantly upon hearing her father’s voice come from the other side of the door._

_”I don’t know what to do.” Ray sighed from inside. “Victoria and I, we both know she needed time, but I thought she’d go back to music again. It’s been months. She hasn’t even been out here to play piano, and now she doesn’t want to go back to camp? Dios mio, it’s like she’s lost the music she used to be brimming with. I....I feel like I’m failing her, Rose.”_

_Julie inhaled sharply at the mention of her mother’s name. Her father didn’t seem to hear her, thankfully. “I feel like I’m failing her. What....what do I do?” Ray’s voice faded into silence, replaced by the sound of quiet sobs._

Julie had run back to the house before he could stumble out and realize she'd overheard. She had never heard her father sound so dejected, and she'd never imagine him feeling that way about her. She knew he'd been upset about her distance from music. He had tried and failed to convince her to join some of the after school music groups already. But they both knew camp was more important than anything she could have ever done at school. Especially after Rose....

That night at dinner, Julie casually asked if camp had sent over the housing registration forms, and seeing Ray’s face light up was worth stomaching one last summer at camp.

She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. 10:37 p.m. They were leaving at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, and, though she knew the pit in her stomach would leave her tossing and turning, she had to try to fall asleep. As she moved to close her suitcase, her eyes landed on the picture frame on her dresser. It was 10-year old Julie and her mom sitting in a gorgeous field. They were laughing at something one of them had said, probably one of her mom's jokes. It was Julie's favorite picture they had together.

Before she could convince herself otherwise, Julie grabbed the picture of her dresser and put in her suitcase, zipping it shut. She put it with the rest of her bags, before crawling into bed and turning off the light. She stared up at the ceiling, her hands fidgeting with the comforter, before sighing.

”Camp Rock, here I come.”

*******

_“Sunset Curve’s Summer Tour Cancelled: Is Frontman Luke Patterson To Blame?”_

Luke cringed as he read the cover of the tabloid. A few other magazines were scattered across the table, all with similar titles and up-close shots of Luke, most of which he hadn’t realized had been taken. One cover had a particularly unflattering picture of him as he stormed out of the door of HGC Records, his hands balled into fists and his eyes ablaze. It had been taken right after another nasty argument with Caleb over their music, and Luke had been fuming for the rest of the day. The magazine used the picture as an opportunity to blow things out of proportion, as did all the others. The tabloids seemed to be united on one front: make Luke look like the villain.

”Luke?” A hand on his shoulder made him jump, and he tore his gaze off the tabloids to look up at Alex. “You good?”

“As good as I can be right now.” Luke shrugged, leaning back in his chair. 

He was underexagerrating, if he was being completely honest. This whole mess was his fault, and he’d managed to drag his two best frends into the line of fire.

It had started with their most recent music video shoot. Well, it _really_ started back when they’d signed with HGC Records three years ago, but Luke didn’t feel like dredging up every little thing that pissed him off. The music video was for their most recent album, the one they’d toured with over the winter, and the boys had been dreading the shoot for weeks. Caleb and the video producer hadn’t really let them be privy to the details of the shoot, and they hadn’t even known what they’d be wearing until they went to the costume crew on the first day.

Luke had considered the costumes strike one. They were flashy suits, each boy sporting their signature colors in the monocrhome ensembles. Luke’s even had a frilly button up that felt too tight to sing in, but he knew not to say anything. Caleb always made it clear that the boys had no say.

The whole concept of the music video was strike two. The producer had them playing their song in a set remeniscent of Katy Perry’s _California Girls_ music video, complete with the bright backdrops and fake palm trees. Their backup dancers had colorful wigs and tight dresses with strange designs. To top it all off, there were _bubbles._ In a _rock music video._ Still, Luke had kept his cool, even then, and had made it through about three days into the shoot when everything went to shit.

Luke had been at the refreshments table, gulping down the iced lemon water with ferocity—it is _hot_ in his suit—when Caleb and the producer had started up a conversation a few feet away. Luke hadn’t paid them any attention, and hadn’t really even realized they were there, until he heard his name get tossed into the mix.

_“...and Luke is defintely going to shine in the next album.” Caleb was saying, a smug look on his face. “The writers have been coming up with some material that is going to change how the world sees Sunset Curve.”_

_“What genre is it?” The producer asked, probably already putting together new ideas in his mind to get ahead. Luke had almost tuned out of the conversation right then, turning to go back to his dressing room, when Caleb spoke:_

_“Pop.”_

Luke honestly didn’t remember a lot of what happened next. All he could see when he thought back to the moments after was a red haze of anger and rage. According to Alex and Reggie and everyone else on set, he’d started yelling at Caleb, calling him ‘cheap,’ ‘greedy,’ claiming that he was trying to turn Sunset Curve into ‘sellouts’ and that he was ‘ruining their image.’ Luke also remembered coming out of his haze and his suit jacket no longer having sleeves.

Today marked four days since the blowup, and Caleb had summoned them into his office, the stack of tabloids awaiting them. He told them he’d cancelled them summer tour, much to their shock, before telling them that they had an hour to figure out a way to ‘cleap up their act’ or else they’d be facing a lawsuit for breach of contract. He’d looked directly at Luke for all of it, before storming out of the room.

Thirty-seven minutes had passed, and the boys still had no ideas. 

They had all picked their brains relentlessly. Even Reggie, who seemed to always have a good idea tucked away up his sleeves, was clueless, and had been on Google trying to look for a solution since the twenty minute mark. 

Luke groaned, dropping his head into his hands. “I’m so sorry, guys.” He mumbled, guilt tugging in his chest. “I’m the one who caused this mess. You two shouldn’t have to deal with this.”

“As much as I agree that it’s your fault, Luke, you shouldn’t be sorry.” Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair. “This was a long time coming.”

“Still, if we don’t come up with an idea now, we’re screwed.” Luke slumped down in his chair. “And then Sunset Curve is over and it’ll be all my fault.”

”Dude, you’re being dramatic.” Alex snorted.

“I gotta go with Alex on this one.” Reggie agreed, glancing up from his phone. “Caleb didn’t create Sunset Curve. He didn’t even know who we were until he saw us perform at camp.”

“Huh.” Luke sat straight up. “You’re right, Reg. Scratch that. You, Reginald, are a _genius._ ”

”I am?” Reggie beamed, looking up from his phone. “Aw, thanks Luke.” The guitarist didn’t respond, instead standing up from his chair and pulling out his phone, scrolling through it as fast as he could.

”What are you doing?” Alex asked, giving him a confused look.

”I have an idea” was all Luke told him before hitting the call button on one of his oldest contacts.

Twenty minutes later, Caleb sat across the desk from the boys, looking between the three of them. “ _This_ is your bright idea?” He scoffed. “ _Summer camp?_ You want me to send one of the most famous boy bands of the decade back to _summer camp?”_

”First off, don’t call us a boy band.” Luke shot back. “Secondly, this is a great opportunity. Think of the good publicity we’ll get! ‘ _Sunset Curve Gives Back To Where It All Began!’ ‘Troubled Teen Heartthrob Luke Patterson Cleans Up His Act!’_ The press will go nuts about us, and they’ll forget all about this little incident.”

“And what, exactly, do you get out of it?” Caleb narrowed his eyes. “Surely you must have something you’re getting out of this.”

“We do.” Luke smirked. “The boys and I are going to write our own songs for the next album while we’re there.

”That’s out of the question—!” Caleb began, but Luke cut him off.

”It might be, but you don’t really have any other options, do you?” Luke knew he was being bold, and that maybe being a bit nicer would get him where he wanted without him and Caleb breaking out into another shouting match. But the idea of writing and playing his own music again was too tempting.

Caleb’s eyes bored into his own, and Luke stared back with equal ferocity. After what seemed like forever passed by, Luke got his answer:

” _Fine.”_

Sunset Curve was going back to Camp Rock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all enjoy this so far! i intend to update as regularly as possible, especially now that my school is fully remote for the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for new chapters!


	2. Welcome Back, Camp Rockers!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie and the boys of Sunset Curve arrive back at Camp Rock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you guys like the chapter! i wanted to squeeze in more, but i figured that this was already long enough. besides, i have a lot planned for the next few chapters ;)
> 
> also, for reference, the boys are around 18/19 years old and julie is 17!

While Julie put the last of her clothes neatly into the dresser, she heard her father sigh happily from behind her. Ray stood by the cabin's windows, taking in the lake.

"This is quite the view." Ray chuckled, glancing over at Julie. "I'm jealous, _mija_. Waking up to this every morning sure beats looking out at the Anderson's hedges, eh?"

" _Anything_ beats the Anderson's hedges." Julie snorted, pushing the drawer shut, and turning back to Ray. "Well, that's the last of everything."

Ray moved away from the window, his eyes scanning her handiwork. "Nice work." He smiled, roping an arm across her shoulders. "You're a pro."

"I learned from the best." Julie smiled. Her dad had been helping her settle in to camp since she was a kid, and she'd been fascinated with his efficiency with the task. She'd picked up a few of his tricks as time went on.

Ray smiled, before the grin was replaced with more of a worried look. He pulled his arm back and turned to face her, his hands falling on her shoulders. "Listen, _mija_...." He sighed, his eyes on hers. "I know this can't be easy for us, and I know that it's not easy being back here without....What I'm trying to say is that I'm proud of you for giving camp and music another shot.. A-and I know that if your mother was here, she'd be so proud of you."

Julie did her best to hold back her tears. The last thing either of them needed right now was for Julie to start crying, because then Ray would start crying, and she didn’t know how long it’d be until they’d stop.

"I know you're going to do great things this summer." Ray continued, one of his hands smoothing over Julie's hair comfortingly. "Who knows? Maybe I'll come to see you headlining the Final Jam." Julie laughed at that, leaning into her dad's hand as it came up to her cheek. "You have a gift, _mija_. Don't be afraid to let people see that, okay?" Ray smiled, pulling her into a hug.

"I love you, Dad." Julie murmured, feeling safe in her father's embrace.

"I love you more." After a long moment, Ray pulled away, a cheerful smile on his face. "Now, come on. I promised Victoria I'd get a picture of you in front of the sign before I left."

"You and your pictures." Julie shook her head with fake exasperation, before making her way out the cabin door. Ray hung back for a moment, making sure Julie wasn't looking when he pulled out the envelope that had been tucked in his back pocket. He rested it against the picture of Julie and Rose, his fingers brushing against the photo briefly, his eyes on Rose’s face. With a sigh and a melancholy smile, he followed his daughter out the door, camera in hand.

*******

" _My couch!"_ Luke cried happily, landing on the soft leather cushions with a thump. "I can't believe you kept this thing."

"I could never throw it out." Trevor chuckled, leaning against the doorframe. "It has too much sentimental value."

"Yeah, and too many stains." Alex snorted as he dropped his stuff on one of the three beds.

"Don't insult our couch, Alex." Reggie shoved the drummer playfully. "She's been good to us."

“You boys haven’t changed one bit.” Trevor mused, a fond look in his eyes. “I can’t believe it’s been three years since you three were campers. It only seems like yesterday you were getting ready for the Final Jam.”

“It’s good to be back.” Reggie sighed happily, and the other boys murmured their agreement.

It had been three years since the boys had last been at Camp Rock. They’d first come when they were in middle school, the three of them being randomly paired up in the same cabin, and they had all bonded instantly. They had been inseparable, both in classes and out, and they’d become the iconic trio of Camp Rock. When they hit high school and started to toss around the idea of making a band, the three of them had turned to Trevor, asking him every question they could come up with to help them become real rockstars. Trevor had been in a band of his own at their age with a few of his friends from high school, before going on to become an iconic solo artist. The boys _worshipped_ him, and Trevor had always had a soft spot for the boys. He had taught them everything he knew, and when they’d won the Final Jam and gotten signed with HGC Records, he cheered the loudest from the audience. Luke knew that coming back to Camp Rock and getting to see Trevor again was nice for all three of them, even with the media hounding their image and Caleb’s lawuit threats.

“You know, I was surprised when Luke called asking if you boys could come stay for the summer.” Trevor mused, crossing his arms. “What brings you three back?”

“Oh, no reason.” Alex quickly replied, shoving his hands in his pockets and giving Trevor a smile. “We just...missed you!”

“Yeah, we missed you, Trevor!” Luke agreed.

“And I wanted to make a birdhouse!” Reggie added, earning a look from his bandmates. “What? I _like_ birdhouses.”

“Is it just because you missed me, or would it have to do with a certain cancelled summer tour?” Trevor raised an eyebrow atthe boys, who all slumped.

Busted.

“Listen, don’t believe everything those articles tell you.” Luke protested, standing from the couch and shoving his hands into the pockets of his sleeveless hoodie. “The media can’t be trusted.”

“So, you _didn’t_ yell at Caleb and storm out of the video shoot?”

Luke cringed. “Okay, maybe they weren’t _totally_ wrong.” He muttered, before quickly filling Trevor in on what had gone down between Caleb and Luke, as well as the deal they’d struck. Trevor nodded along, listening intently. “...And, basically, we thought that if we came back to where we found started, somewhere where Caleb wasn’t breathing down our necks, we could find our sound again.”

Trevor tilted his head. “Y’know, Luke, I know we used to say Alex was the brains of the group, but you’re giving him a run for his money.”

“Hey!” Alex protested as Luke perked up.

“I think this will be good for you.” Trevor continued. “Plus, the campers will go nuts having real rockstars as counselors. And, speaking of returning to your roots, maybe you boys could bring out one of my favorites at opening ceremony today.” He added with a twinkle in his eye, and the boys all grinned. “You know how I love _Now or Never._ ”

*******

Julie made her way through the hoard of kids croweded around the outdoor stage, all of them waiting excitedly for the opening ceremony to begin. She recognized a few people from her past summers, averting her eyes before they could recognize her and strike up a conversation. It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy to see her old friends; it was more that she was doing her best to avoid The Question, because no matter how the conversation would start, people always managed to guide it to the topic Julie would do anything to avoid. She’d gotten enough of The Question from her therapist last year.

With her eyes glued to the ground, Julie wasn’t really watching where she was going as she slipped through the crowd, so it wasn’t too surprising when she accidentally walked straight into someone. She lifted her head, the apology already tumbling out of her mouth, when Julie found herself face to face with Carrie Wilson.

Carrie’s eyes lit up with recognition. “ _Julie_?”

Julie straightened, her hands fidgeting awkwardly at her side. “Carrie! Hey!”

“I didn’t know you were coming this year.” Carrie’s words felt like an accusation, and Julie wasn’t sure how to respond. Luckily, she didn’t have the chance to respond before someone else chimed in.

“No way!” Julie’s eyes snapped over to the blonde haired boy who moved to stand next to Carrie. “Julie! You’re back!”

“Nick!” She squeaked the word out, internally cringing out how shrill her voice sounded. She cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’m back.” She managed to say nonchalantly, all the while trying hard to ignore the fluttering in her chest.

“It’s good to see you.” Nick beamed, and Julie hoped he couldn’t tell how warm her face had gotten. “We missed you last year.”

“You did?” She couldn’t fight a smile at that. “I missed yo— _you guys_ too!” She stumbled over her wordsa and gave an awkward chuckle, hoping it wasn’t painfully obvious how flustered she was.

Carrie gave her an unamused look. “Right.” She clapped her hands together, plastering a bright smile on her face. “Well, as _fun_ as it is to catch up, Nick and I should get back to everyone.”

“We do? But—” Nick started to protest, but Carrie’s sharp look made him stop. “I mean, right, let’s get back. But we should definitely catch up more later! Maybe us three could do a picnic on the docks, like we used to?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Julie said with false enthusiasm and choosing to ignore how Carrie was rolling her eyes when Nick wasn’t looking.

“Ok, then I’ll see you later!” Nick’s smile nearly made Julie melt on the spot.

Carrie didn’t say a word, her hand wrapping around Nick’s and pulling him off deeper into the crowd. Julie couldn’t ignore the twinge in her chest as she weakly waved in the direction they disappeared. “Bye.”

" _Girl_ , what did you do to her?" A new voice piped up, startling Julie. She turned, seeing a girl sitting on the edge of the stage, a laptop open beside her. "Seriously, I know Carrie is Camp Rock’s resident diva, but even that was out of pocket, even for her.”

"You know, I'm not really sure." Julie shrugged.

"Well, any enemy of Carrie is a friend of mine." The girl tossed her braids over her shoulder, offering her hand to Julie and a bright smile. "I'm Flynn Tyler. Camper today, top selling music producer tomorrow."

Julie shook her hand, picking her brain to find out why Flynn’s name was oddly familiar. "I'm Julie."

"Wait, Julie? As in Julie Molina?" When Julie nodded, Flynn perked up. "I was wondering who my mystery bunkmate was.”

Something clicked in Julie’s brain, and she thought back to that morning when she’d been moving into the cabin. There had been a nametag on the door had Julie M. & Flynn T. written in neat handwriting, but in her rush to get everything inside, Julie had forgotten all about it.

“It’s really good to finally meet you.” Julie smiled, her second genuine one of the day. Before either girl could say more, the people around them suddenly erupted into cheers and applause. Flynn quickly shoved her laptop in her backpack, pulling Julie to stand at the front of the crowd facing the stage as Trevor Wilson, Camp Rock’s founder, director, and cause of the crowd’s commotion strutted onstage. He had a microphone in hand, which confused Julie, seeing as there were mic stands set up already, two in the front of the stage and one towards the back over the drum kit. Before she could think too much of it, Trevor began his opening speech.

“Hello Camp Rockers!” He boomed, grinning at the crowd. “How are we doing today?” The campers cheered in response. “Good to hear. For those of you who don’t know me, and for those of you who’ve forgotten who I am in the last 9 months, my name is Trevor Wilson, former lead guitarist ofthe 90’s sensation The Petal Pushers—” Julie looked back at the ground, her heart squeezing at the mention of the band, another painful reminder of the Rose-shaped hole in her life. “—and the founder and director of Camp Rock. Now, here at camp, we pride ourselves on training you all to become music’s Next Big Thing. You’ll get training in dance, singing, songwriting, mixing, and so much more, and at the end of the summer, during our Final Jam, you’ll have the chance to show off your newfound skills to industry scouts who are looking for new talent like you. Who knows? Maybe you’ll walk out of this summer with a record deal?” Trevor wiggled his eyebrows at the crowd, earning a few laughs. “What, don’t believe me?” He asked, a hand on his hip. “Well, maybe I’ll let someone else convince you. Camp Rockers, help me welcome to the stage some special guests. They’re dear friends of mine, and will be joining as VIP counselors for the summer. Put your hands together for _Sunset Curve!_ ”

Beside Julie, Flynn squealed in excitement. “No fucking way!” She grabbed Julie’s arm in excitement. “They’re, like, my _favorite_ band right now!”

The girls watched as a trio of boys ran onstage, instruments in hand. Julie had heard of Sunset Curve over the years, and she recognized them from pictures she’d seen online, though she didn’t really know their music—or their names. The drummer was a tall, lanky blonde, and wore a fanny pack across his chest. He spun one of the drumsticks in his hand as he settled in behind the drum kit. The bassist, despite the heat, wore a leather jacket and ripped jeans, had a flannel tied around his waist. He winked at the girls beside Julie and Flynn as he moved behind one of the microphone stands. The other mic was occupied by the guitarist, a brunette with a charming grin and a sleeveless shirt that exposed his arms, which were muscular, to say the least, though Julie tried not to stare at them too much.

The crowd around her went wild as the drummer counted the band in and the guitarist began singing into the mic.

“ _Take off, last stop, countdown ‘till we blast open the top...._ ”

Julie found herself bopping her head along to the song. It was easy to get into, and the boys were in sync with each other, clearly having the time of their lives onstage. The guitarist’s voice was one of the best Julie had heard in a while, and she saw fire in his eyes that was reflected in his performance. Julie hadn’t planned on watching him, but she couldn’t help it. Watching him perform was slightly mesmerizing. As if he could feel her eyes on him, the guitarist glanced right at her, and shot her a wink and a smile. Julie quickly averted her gaze to the bassist, thankful that everyone’s faces were red from the heat so her blushing wasn’t obvious.

The band finished the song with a rousing final chord, and Julie and Flynn cheered with the rest of the campers. The guitarist pushed his hair out of his eyes, out of breath. “Thank you! We’re Sunset Curve!”

“Tell your friends!” The bassist chimed in, waving at the cheering crowd.

Trevor appeared back onstage, throwing an arm around the bassist. “Let’s give another round of applause for these boys!” He cried, before launching into another spiel. Julie wasn’t listening, instead sharing a look with Flynn.

This summer was _definitely_ going to be interesting.


	3. Wake Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is a longer chapter, but i wanted to squeeze everything in there! hope you all like it :)

“I can do this.” Julie said for what felt like the hundreth time as she stood rooted to the ground, staring at the cabin that sat at the bottom of the hill. “Just go down there and go into the class. It’s that easy.”

She didn’t move. Her hand tightened around the piece of paper she was holding. It was her schedule, the classes listed next to the time slots. It was 2:37, which meant she was already 7 minutes late to her third block. Vocal Performance. She knew that if she went in now, she could feign being lost, knowing that the counselor running it would believe her. It was a new counselor, one who didn’t know that Julie knew the camp like the back of her hand. It would be so simple.

Julie didn’t move.

The rest of the campers were all in their respective classes. Flynn had walked with Julie to where she stood now, before breaking off to go to her music management class, which, according to Flynn, was _a lot_ more exciting than it sounded. Julie had been standing in the same spot since then, watching the rest of the campers make their way towards the cabin at the bottom of the hill, chatting amongst themselves. None of them had paid her any heed or stopped to ask her where she was going.

She took a deep breath, trying to summon the courage to go down the hill, and had come close to taking that first step when she heard it. The sound of a few chords being played on the grand piano that sat in the center of the room. Julie’s heart squeezed, and she took a step backwards, before turning on her heel and walking away as fast as she could, leaving the music building in the dust.

She ended up at the lake, sitting on the dock and throwing rocks into the water to see how far the ripples went before they disappeared. It was an easy way to distract herself, and the lake didn’t care that she didn’t wear a fake smile or that she wasn’t pretending to be having the time of her life.

It was only, what, 8 weeks until she had to go home? She could surely manage to get through the summer. And if she never showed up for Vocal Performance, the instructor would be none the wiser. They’d proabably assume Julie was on her list by mistake, and go on with the class with everyone else. Julie could use third block to do her summer work, or take a nap, or just sit at the lake every day and see how far she can throw rocks into the water. Her throw was pretty bad now, but 8 weeks of practice would change that. Julie picked up the next rock from the pile, rearing her arm back to throw it—

“Julie?” She dropped the rock into the water, startled, and whipped her head around to see Trevor standing behind her. “What are you doing out here?”

“Hi, Trevor.” Julie mumbled, her cheeks growing warm. “I was just....” She looked back at the lake. “....enjoying the view?” She cringed at her words. She expected him to ask what she was doing out here, or why she wasn’t in class, or why she’d thought he’d believe such a shitty excuse, and she mentally braced herself for it.

“I get that.” He chuckled, offering her a lopsided grin. “Actually, I’m glad I caught you. Walk with me?” He nodded for her to follow, and Julie reluctantly stood up, leaving her pile of rocks on the dock as she fell into step beside him.

He brought her back down the path she’d come, and Julie’s heart started pounding as they got closer to where her Vocal Perfomance class was meeting, but Trevor sauntered past the building without even glancing at it. As Julie’s heart returned to its normal resting rate, Trevor lead her to the mess hall. As they walked, he kept their conversatoin light, asking Julie how her year had been, and what classes she was taking at camp. He didn’t seem to mind that her answers were short, and he moved their coversation along with ease.

Julie had always loved that about Trevor. She’d known him her whole life, and, depsite his immense stardom and wealth, he’d always been a kind and humble man, always giving to others and great a reading people. Julie guessed that he saw right through her facade, but he instead of rubbing salt into her wounds to try and get her to open up, he let her listen to him talk about his year, and how excited he was that the boys from Sunset Curve had decided to spend the summer at camp—apparantly, one of the boys was eager to make a birdhouse, so Trevor had gone ahead and ordered new paints specifically for him. That made Julie smile. Who knew rockstars liked kind of stuff?

Trevor had lead Julie into the mess hall towards the door that lead into the storage room. As he pulled out a key and started to unlock the door, he continued his lighthearted chatter, the topic now shifting to why he’d brought Julie there in the first place. “I was asked a few weeks back to help out with a charity auction, and I figured I could give them some stuff from my early days going solo, or maybe some jackets I wore during one of the tours with the band.” Trevor pushed the door open, flicking on the lights. One sole lightbulb flickered to life from the center of the ceiling. “Anyway, I stored a bunch of stuff in here, mostly ‘cause I didn’t have the space at home, and while I was digging through everything, I found something I thought you’d might like.”

The room was definitely full of Trevor’s stuff, alright. While he moved towards the back of the room, Julie looked at the stuff piled neatly around her. A few guitar cases were leaned against the wall, right next to a pile of unlabled cardboard boxes, most likely full of old band merchandise. On the wall were framed posters from tours, pictures of Trevor and various celebrities Julie couldn’t name, even one of his platinum records.

“Here it is!” Trevor exclaimed, and Julie turned to see him dragging something out from underneath a table. It seemed to be an old trunk, slightly dusty from not being touched. “Go on, open it.”

Julie knelt down in front of the trunk. Her fingers brushed over the cursive _R_ embossed in the metal above the lock as she reached for the latches. Popping them open, Julie pushed the lid up, and immediately the breath was knocked out of her lungs.

The inside of the lid had various backstage passes and ticket stubs, all from shows played by bands Julie didn’t know or care about. What really made Julie freeze was the Dahlia Puerto Rico sticker in the center of the collage, placed right above a polaroid picture of _Julie’s mom._

It was an old picture, taken when Rose was probably in her early 20’s. She wore a leather jacket over a puffy pink dress, clutching a guitar in one hand, the same guitar that currently sat in its case in Julie’s cabin. It must’ve been taken during her days in The Petal Pushers—everytime her mom had reminsced on her perfoming days, she always talked about how much she loved the costumes she got to wear. She looked happy, and was flashing a smile at whoever was behind the camera.

Julie forced herself to tear her eyes away from the polaroid and looked down at the contents of the trunk. It was filled with flashy and stylish clothes, and, pulling out one of the shirts from the top, the inside collars were all had Rose embroidered into the fabric.

“They’re all hers?” Julie breathed, looking back up a Trevor.

“All of her stuff from back when we were in the band.” He nodded. “She stored this stuff in here when we first started this place. We had plans for years to make this room some kind of shrine to the good old days. Never did get around to that before life got in the way.” He added, his eyes briefly dropping to the floor, before he perked up again, the smile returning. “Obviously, it’s all yours. I meant to call Ray when I first found it and try and swing by to drop it off, but then I figured it would be a good surprise.”

Julie’s fingers brushed over the fabric of the shirt she held in her hands. “It definitely is.” She murmured.

Trevor pulled the key out of his pocket, holding it out to Julie. “I’ll see if I can wrangle some of the counselor’s to bring it to your cabin sometime soon, but untilt then, come in here whenever you’d like.” Julie took the key wordlessly. “I’ve gotta head out, do a few things before opening campfire. Make sure you lock the door on your way out.” She watched as Trevor stopped in the doorway, turning to offer her a soft smile. “And, Julie, if you ever need to talk about....about anything, my door’s always open.”

With that, Trevor was gone, and Julie stayed until third block was over, clutching her mother’s clothes like a lifeline.

*******

Luke waved goodbye to the last of the campers, the screen door slamming shut behind them. The first half of the day had been spent teaching the Beginner Guitar classes to the younger kids, who had been eager to learn from ‘a real rockstar.’ They had been good pupils, hanging on to every word that came out of Luke’s mouth. He had managed to get them through a few basic chords, even teaching them one of Sunset Curve’s easier songs from their most recent album, much to their delight. It had been a fun way to spend his first class at Camp Rock.

Now, though, he had the afternoon to himself. Reggie had made it clear that he’d be spending his day holed up in the arts and crafts barn, carefully working on the design to the perfect birdhouse, while Alex was teaching back to back drumming classes of all different levels, leaving Luke to start discovering Sunset Curve’s new sound.

His guitar slung over his shoulder and his songbook and lucky pen in his hand, he made his way to the lake. Back when he’d been a camper, some of the best song’s he’d ever written had been conceived sitting on the dock, the wind in his hair and sun beating down on him from the sky.

He made his way to the end of the dock, kicking a pile of rocks into the water to make room for him to sit. He flipped his notebook open to a blank page, strumming a few chords on the guitar. A breeze tickled his skin, and Luke inhaled the sweet scent of pine trees and fresh air as his fingers danced along the fretboard. Any minute now, inspiration would strike, and Luke would strart to redefine Sunset Curve. So, closing his eyes and leaning back against the wooden post, Luke plucked out a chord and waited for the idea to hit him.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Luke had probably strummed the same chord progression about thirty times, and not one single idea had popped into his head. Had it been this hard to write back when he’d been a camper? Maybe he was just going about it the wrong way. Pulling his guitar over his head, he set it on the dock next to him, snatching the notebook and uncapping his pen. He was probably just getting ahead of himself. What good was a chord progression without the words to go with them? He’d write the perfect lyrics first, then find the notes that would sound heavenly beneath them. He nearly laughed at his own mistakes. It was a good thing that he was alone on the dock, the boys would never let him forget it if they’d witnessed his stupidity in action.

Luke held the pen right above the paper, waiting for the right lyric to pop into his head that would change Sunset Curve for the better.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

_And waited._

In fact, Luke Patterson sat on the dock, waiting for the perfect line to pop into his head, for about two hours. By the time Alex and Reggie found him, the sun had begun to dip over the treetops. They watched as Luke hit his head repeatedly on the wooden post he leaned on.

“So, I take it there wasn’t a lot of inspiration?” Alex asked, looking down at Luke.

“None.” Luke groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “Was it this hard when we first started?”

“Probably.” Alex held out a hand, and Luke took it, standing and grabbing his guitar as the trio made their way back towards the mess hall.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I had a wildly creative day.” Reggie beamed, holding up his graphite-smeared hands. “I was talking to this counselor—Jenny? Jenna? It was something with a J—and she gave me this whole new perspective on birdhouse architecture. Like, who decided they had to look so uniform? Why can’t they have fun shapes too? So we experimented with a bunch of different designs...”

As Reggie went on about his day in the art barn, his eyes full of stars, Alex and Luke shared an amused look. Reggie could always find the bright side of things, that was for sure. Luke couldn’t help but envy his bandmate’s luck; he hadn’t just designed his birdhouse, but he’d found someone just as passionate about making it as he was, someone who challenged him to think about it in new ways.

Man, what Luke would give for a writing partner like that.

*******

Julie couldn’t do this. She _definitely_ couldn’t do this.

Her day, to say the least, hadn’t really improved after Trevor had found her by the docks. Her classes had been fine, most of them easy to bear because Flynn had been put in the same ones. Dinner had gone by without a hitch, and Julie had managed to learn a lot about Flynn, like how she wanted to be a famous manager when she was older, and how she was an only child, and that she was really good at making Julie genuinely laugh. It was nice not to have to fake her amusement for once.

Things had started to go off the rails at opening campfire.

Opening ceremony and opening campfire went hand in hand at Camp Rock. The ceremony was for the nitty gritty details, like explaining how the first day’s schedule would work, or how to navigate camp, and, in this year’s case, for a trio of rockstars to wow the campers and show them that, ‘Hey, we were where you guys were, and look what we became!’ Opening campfire, however, was a sharp contrast. It was lead by counselors, most of whom were only a few years older than Julie. They stood in front of the raging bonfire behind them, leading sing-a-longs and teaching the fun call and response chants to the new campers. Julie had expected it to go on as usual, before she’d drag herself back to her and Flynn’s cabin and fall asleep.

But then the counselors’s decided to start the sing-a-long with Rose’s favorite song, and Julie just couldn’t do it anymore.

Storming away from the campfire, she half-ran along the path to her cabin as the tears started falling. She threw the door open, rushing to her bed and snatching her phone from where it sat charging on the nightstand. This was too much at once, it was too painful to be here. Everywhere she turned, she was constantly reminded that Rose wasn’t there anymore. The sound of the grand piano her mom had taught her on, the trunk of clothes from her days in her band, and the song she’d always insist on leading at opening campfire. It was all piling up, a blaring reminder that Julie’s mom was gone.

As she threw the door to her cabin open, she knew what she had to do. She’d call her dad and he’d come get her, and she’d pretend not to see the sad look in his eyes every time she wasn’t singing in the studio, and she could spend her summer babysitting the neighbor’s kids and go back to pretending like she was fine and that _everything was fine_.

She was a second away from hitting the green call button when her eyes landed on something that sat on her nightstand. An envelope rested against the frame where the picture of Julie and her mom, sitting there as if it was waiting for her. Written in the center in neat slanted script was Julie’s name.

She snatched the envelope, her urgent phone call forgotten, and she reread the writing again, not truly believeing what was right in front of her.

It was her mom’s handwriting.

She carefully opened the seal, pulling out the neatly folded papers inside and carefully unfolding them. It was sheet music, all handwritten neatly in black pen, the lyrics and notes spanning across the pages. Julie flipped through, taking in the words and the melodies, stopping on the last page. Written in the corner was a note: _Julie, you can do it! Love, Mom_. It was such a simple note, but it was so much more than that to her.

Julie was out of her cabin and pushing open the door to the Vocal Performance cabin in record time. She flicked the lights on, moving to stand next to the grand piano in the center of the room, the same one whose sound had sent her running away just hours ago. As her fingers brushed over the surface, memories flooded into her mind; sitting next to her mom on the piano bench while she played, plunking out her first note and falling in love with the sound, writing her first song with her mom. Julie’s lips quivered, but she took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

She sat down at the bench, lifting the cover and neatly laying out the sheet music on the stand. Though it’d been almost a year since she’d last sat behind a piano, her posture instinctively straightened and her hands settled over the keys, poised to play. Reading the music, Julie began to play the opening line, her hands moving along the keys.

As she moved into the first verse, her fingers slipped over the wrong keys, the mistakes ringing clearly thorugh the classroom. Julie immeadiately cringed, her hands shooting away from the keys. She was about to get up and abandon the idea of playing when a soothing voice spoke in her head. _There will always be times when you play a wrong note. What makes a real musician is knowing that wrong notes are apart of the process. Take a deep breath, and start again, mija._ It was as if Rose was standing behind Julie like she used to, reading the music over her shoulder and helping her practice to perfection. Julie instantly relaxed, and repositioned her hands over the keys.

She took a deep breath, and started to play again. This time, she was ready, and played through the intro as if the mistake never happened. As she reached the first verse, for the first time since her mom had died, Julie began to sing.

“ _Here’s the one thing I want you to know, you got someplace to go..._ ”

*******

Luke shoved his hands in his pockets as he left the campfire behind, walking along the dark path back towards his cabin. It wasn’t that he didn’t love opening campfire. He’d been looking forward to swaying back and forth with Reggie and Alex, singing the songs they knew by heart at the top of their lungs and laughing when one of their voices cracked. He just wasn’t up for it tonight.

In truth, he hadn’t been able to sit still since he’d left the dock. He was itching to sit down with his songbook, maybe trying a new location to help start his creativity. Maybe he’d break into Trevor’s office and write a song about teenage rebellion, or he could sit in the middle of the vast expanse of trees and write a song about finding yourself in the stars. Anything would beat what he’d been forced to sing for the last few years. It seemed that the only songs Caleb’s writers knew how to produce were songs about living large, girls, and getting drunk(even though no one in the band was over 21).

Luke tried to take in the world around him as he walked, looking for inspriation in whatever he could see or hear. This was frustrating. He was Luke Patterson, frontman of one of the most popular band’s in the country, in the world. He and his best friends had gotten signed because of the songs he’d written. If a 16 year old Luke could pump out song after song, why couldn’t he do it now?

Breaking into Trevor’s office was his best bet. Teenage rebellion was as good a start as any.

As Luke passed one of the music cabins, a melody became clearer in his head, and his heart began to race with excitement. Was this it? Was he getting inspiration right now? Teenage rebellion had been a good start after all. But, wait, this melody wasn’t intense or angry. It was more of a ballad, and the music in his head was usually guitar, not piano. So then why would it be different now?

That’s when Luke stopped and turned to look at the cabin he was passing. It’s lights were on, and Luke could see someone inside of it, sitting at the grand piano, playing the melody he was hearing now. He was about to shrug it off, walk away and leave whoever it was to their practicing when he heard the person begin to sing.

“ _It’s not what you’ve lost, it’s what you’ll gain raising your voice to the rain...”_

Whoever was singing had the voice of an angel.

Luke moved towards the back door of the cabin, seeing the girl’s back was to him. He watched in awe as she effortlessly soared over the lyrics, her voice powerful and raw and passionate. Even without seeing her face, her performance was mesmerizing. And the song itself was a lyrical masterpiece. From what he’d heard, it was a song about reawakening the fire inside and pulling yourself out of a rut. Luke couldn’t help feel it was a sign, a sign that maybe she was the answer to his problem.

As the girl brought the song to a close, Luke pulled the back door open as quietly as he could not wanting to disrupt the energy in the room. He had a million questions to ask her—did she write the song? If yes, how did she manage to come up with such beautiful lyrics and a melody to go with it? Would she reccomend breaking and entering as a means of inspritation? What was her name? He opened his mouth, the first question on the tip of his tongue, when he saw the girl’s shoulders begin to shake.

Luke froze. Was she _crying_?

This was bad. Out of all the guys in the band, he was the worst at dealing with crying girls. Reggie and Alex had a softer touch, always knowing what to say at the exact right moment, while Luke always ended up saying some half-strung together thought that always seemed to make it worse.

Okay, this was a minor setback, but he could wait until she stopped crying to ask the questions, right? Sure, he didn’t know what her face looked like, but he had a solid idea of her back profile. Plus, with a voice like that, he was sure he’d figure out who she was in no time.

He began to back up, ready to exit silently, when the bottom of his shoe squeaked on the linoleum floor. Luke cringed. Damn these shoes.

The girl jumped, whipping around to look at Luke with misty eyes. He felt a flash of recognition—she was the girl he’d winked at during Now or Never, the one who’d looked away when she was caught. He knew she recognized him, he saw it in her face. _Quick, Patterson, say something,_ he thought, mentally kicking himself. Before he could make anything worse by opening his mouth, the girl beat him to it.

“What the hell are you doing?”


	4. Bad With Crying Girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all enjoy!

"What the hell are you doing?"

Like he'd said before, Luke wasn't the best at handling people crying. He was even worse when it was girls crying. Usually, whatever he would manage to stutter out would either make them cry harder or make them storm off, cursing him out under their breath. So, right now, as the girl who'd been belting out music like an angel just moments before stood with teary eyes narrowed at Luke, he was panicking.

Luke did his best to channel his inner-Alex.

"A-are you okay?"

The girl scoffed, crossing her arms. "Did you _seriously_ just answer my question with another question?"

This wasn't going well. Luke fidgeted awkwardly under her gaze as he wracked his brain for the right thing to say. "Yes, I did." At a loss for anything else to say, he stuck his hand out towards the girl. "I'm Luke, by the way."

She didn't shake his hand, and Luke had to awkwardly pull it back down to his side. "You're in the band that played opening ceremony. Sunset Swerve, right?"

"Sunset _Curve_." He shot back instinctively, earning a raised eyebrow. "Uh, I mean, it's Sunset Curve. Not Swerve. Tell your friends." He added with an awkward chuckle.

"Right." She didn't look amused. "So, are you gonna tell my why you were sneaking up on me, or...?"

Luke flushed with embarrassment. "Right. That." He clasped his hands together, trying to look as casual as possible. "I wasn't trying to 'sneak up' on you. I just heard you singing, and it was really good, and I was coming in to tell you that, but then you started crying, and I didn't want to bother you, so I tried to leave quietly, and, well...." _Oh God,_ he was rambling. He did his best to stop himself before he ended up spilling his whole life story. "Here we are."

"Here we are." She echoed, before turning and gathering the sheet music from the piano. Seeing it reminded Luke of one of the questions he'd planned on asking her before he'd turned into a blabbering mess.

"Did you write that?" He blurted out, and the girl turned back to him. An emotion Luke couldn't place flashed over her face as she looked down at the sheet music in her hands.

"No, I didn't." Her voice lost its edge, which Luke took as a sign that she wasn't as peeved at him than she had been moments before. Which was definitely an improvement, in his book.

"Well, either way, you sounded—" He took a step towards her, and, after she shot him a look, stepped back immediately. "—really good."

"Thanks." She glanced over her shoulder, before looking back at Luke. "Well, um....bye." She made a beeline for the door, clutching the music in her hand. Luke panicked.

"Wait!" She stopped, her hand on the doorknob, and turned back to look at him. "I never got your name."

For a moment, Luke wasn't sure if she was going to tell him. She looked like she was debating the fastest way to sprint away so he wouldn't be able to find her. Just when he'd lost hope, her face softened. "It's Julie." She murmured, before she was out the door and gone.

The urge to cringe he'd been repressing surfaced, and he covered his face with his hands. The guys were going to _eat him alive_ when he told them about this.

*******

Julie trudged back to her cabin, turning over the confusing interaction she'd just had. Was that really the frontman of one of the world's most famous rock bands she'd just talked to?

Julie would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about what he'd be life—he was _cute_ , okay? She'd imagined him as a suave, a smooth-talker, a flirt, and definitely _not_ as the stammer mess of a boy who'd rambled for almost the entire conversation. Well, in fairness, Julie had been mid-cry session, and if she walked in one someone in her state, she'd probably be a little awkward, too.

She pushed the door open to her cabin, and was pulled out of her thoughts by Flynn, who was lounging on her bed, magazine in hand. "Girl, there you are! I was wondering where you went." Her bunkmate looked up and furrowed her brow. "Hey, are you okay?"

That's when Julie remembered she had been crying. Luke's interruption had paused the flow of tears, but the signs were still evident. She swiped at her cheeks, finding them still damp. 

"Actually....I'm good." She breathed, meeting Flynn's worried gaze. "Better than I've been in a while, even."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

There it was. That question. The same one she'd been asked so many times it had lost its meaning to her. The doctors, her therapist, her teachers, her dad, her aunt, her brother, everyone had asked her that question, and every time she'd blown them off, shut them out, and kept whatever she was feeling in.

That was then. Now, Julie felt ready.

"Yeah, I do." She smiled at Flynn, who made room on her bed for Julie, patting the spot next to hers. Julie accepted the invitation, snuggling into the soft blankets and pillows. "Well, to start, I have to tell you about my mom...."

Flynn, it turned out, was one of the best listeners Julie had ever met. She listened intently as Julie told her about Rose and their shared love of music, about how Julie had grown up spending her summer's at Camp Rock learning from her mom, about how much it hurt to even be in her mom's studio after she died, about how she used to think it was an insult to Rose's memory to play without her, about her year without music. Flynn let Julie laugh, cry, and reminisce. She let Julie take her time, never pushing her to go on when she needed a minute of peace. It was easy to talk to someone so kind.

".....And I just played for the first time in months, and it felt so right." Julie breathed. "I know now that my mom would want me to keep playing to keep her with me. I just feel ready to have music in my life again." She looked up at Flynn, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, that was a lot at once."

"You don't have to apologize for any of that." Flynn shoved her gently, giving her a supportive grin. "I'm honored you felt like you could talk to me."

Julie beamed at Flynn. "I'm really glad I got you as my bunkmate."

"Ditto to that." Flynn's eyes suddenly lit up. "You know, if you're performing again, we should start a band! With your voice and my rapping skills, we'd make a pretty great team. Better than Dirty Candy, anyway." She added, her nose scrunching in annoyance at the thought of Carrie's group.

"I think you might be onto something." Julie leaned her head against Flynn's shoulder, feeling at peace for the first time in months.

And so, Double Trouble was born.

*******

Luke went to breakfast the next morning with purpose.

The night before, he’d tossed and turned in his bed long after Alex and Reggie had fallen asleep. His mind wouldn’t shut up, and his thoughts lingered on Julie. The memory of her voice, haunting and beautiful, lingered in his ears and made goosebumps rise along his arms. The reminscing was quickly followed by embnarrassment as he replayed the conversation had followed, making him cringe every time he ran through what he said. He hadn’t told the guys yet what had happened, knowing how they’d ridicule his lack of grace, and after hours of brainstorming, he came to his conclusion around 2 a.m.: he needed to fix this.

So, as Luke, Alex and Reggie shuffled through the breakfast line, piling various foods onto their plates, Luke’s eyes kept scanning the room, looking for a flash of brown curls or a glimpse of her face. He slumps when he doesn’t see her, following his bandmates sullenly to their table.

As Luke began to inhale his breakfast—no amount of disappointment would ever take away his hunger—a cheery voice spoke up across the table. “Hi boys!”

Luke looked up from his eggs to see a trio of girls standing across from him. The one who had spoken, a petite brunette, flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled at them. “I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Carrie Wilson, Trevor’s niece. This is Kayla and Trish.” She added, nodding to the girls on either side of her, who both waved.

“How you doin’?” Luke nodded in greeting, his bandmates murming their hellos. The girls took this as an invitation to join the band, pulling out the empty chairs and sitting down.

“I just wanted to personally welcome you guys to Camp Rock.” Carrie said with a smile. “And congrats on such a great performance yesterday! I saw you guys in concert last winter, but this new 90’s alt rock vibe you’re going for is _so_ refreshing!”

“Thanks!” Reggie said through his mouthful of food. Carrie’s smile seemed strained for a moment, before returning to it’s cheerful glow.

“So, I’m sure you three have heard about my group, Dirty Candy.” Carrie went on, twirling a strand of her hair on her finger. “We’ve been talking, and, as a way of showing good faith between old campers and new, we figured it’d be so much fun to collab for one of the smaller Jams this summer. I know Trevor would _love_ it.” As Carrie continued to talk, Luke’s gaze drifted to over her shoulder, landing on a girl in a tie-dye top with brown curls walking through the tables. Her head turned slightly in his direction, and Luke’s eyes widened.

“I’ll be right back!” He stood abruptly, making Carrie halt mid-sentence. Julie had sat down a few tables over next to another girl Luke didn’t know. The two were chatting, and Julie didn’t notice as Luke made a bee-line for her table. “Julie, hey!” She jumped when he spoke, and Luke kicked himself mentally for startling her a second time in less than 12 hours. She turned, staring at him with wide eyes.

“Um, hi?” She replied, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

“Hi there.” The girl sitting next to her offered Luke a smile, holding out her hand. “I’m Flynn. Big fan.”

“Cool to meet you, Flynn.” Luke shook her hand, before turning back to Julie. “Look, I just wanted to apologize for last night.”

“Oh, you don’t have to—” Julie began, but Luke cut her off.

“No, I really do.” He pulled out the empty chair next to her, sitting down and facing her. “I feel really bad. I felt like I intruded on a moment, and I really didn’t mean to scare you or anything.”

“It’s totally fine.” Julie said quickly, glancing over her shoulder quickly before turning back to Luke. He didn’t understand why she looked so rigid, or why she seemed to be embarrassed.

“And I wanted to tell you again that you sounded killer last night.” He added, offering a small smile. “You’re like a human wreckingball.”

“T-thank you.” Julie stuttered, her eyes once again looking over Luke’s shoulders. “You really didn’t have to go out of your way to say all that.”

“It wasn’t just that.” Luke scratched the back of his neck, leaning slightly towards Julie. “I also wanted to make sure you were okay. You seemed upset before I walked in.” When Julie glanced yet again over his shoulder, Luke started to turn. “And what are you looking— _oh_.” His voice cut short as he looked over his shoulder, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

The last few years of Luke’s life had been spent in the spotlight. The first few times he’d been stopped for a picture while walking down the street, or asked for an autograph in the middle of a coffee shop, he was hyperaware of the constant eyes on him whenever he entered a room. As time went on, though, the constant staring and hushed whispers had faded into the background, and had become a normal part of his life.

Only now when Luke turned around to find almost every set of eyes in the cafeteria locked onto him did he realize that everyone was watching the conversation go down. That explained why Julie seemed so uncomfortable. Over at his table, Alex and Reggie were giving him confounded looks, and Carrie was watching the interaction with narrowed eyes.

Luke whipped back around to Julie, who was staring pointedly at the table. “I think I might’ve accidentally made this worse.” He chuckled nervously. Beside Julie, Flynn facepalmed. “We could talk outside, or—”

“Actually, I should go.” Julie quickly stood, looking back at Flynn and shooting her friend a silent message. “I don’t wanna be late for my first class. Thank you, though, for checking in on me, and stuff. Bye!” She added quickly, before grabbing Flynn’s arm and leading her out of the mess hall, leaving Luke in the dust.

Disheartened, Luke made his way back to his table, acutely aware of everyone watching him and whispering amongst themselves. When he dropped back into his seat, he didn’t acknowledge his bandmates or Carrie, instead dropping his head on the table.

“Right.” He heard Carrie say, followed by the sound of chairs scraping the floor as they stood. “Well, just keep our offer in mind, ‘kay? See you boys later!”

After the girls had left, Luke felt Reggie’s hand on his shoulder, shaking him. “You okay?”

“Also, what was _that_?” Alex added.

Luke sighed, lifting his head and propping his chin on his hand and turning towards his bandmates.“Remember how you guys always say I’m the worst at dealing with crying girls?” 


	5. Camp Rock’s Resident Expert On All Things Luke Patterson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for your kinds words in the comments! they mean the world to me and it makes me happy to know people enjoy the story so far.
> 
> also, for those of you eager to see it....willie will be making an appearance within the next few chapters, i promise ;)
> 
> i’ll do my best to update every 2-3 days. i’m not sure how long the story will be, but i’m gonna do my best to tell it as perfectly as i can. enjoy the chapter!

Julie was, in lack of better words, _annoyed_.

She could admit that it was partially her fault for not knowing who Sunset Curve was or how big of a deal they seemed to be to everyone else at camp. According to Flynn, is was _sinful_ that she didn't know any of their songs ‘ _with how many times they were played on the radio per day_.’ Maybe if she had known that Sunset Curve was a world-wide sensation, she wouldn't have run from Luke before he could apologize and he wouldn't have had to come up to her at breakfast, and then the whole incident could be avoided. But she had done all of those things, so her day had been trying.

After she'd dragged Flynn out of the mess hall and survived her friend's intensive questioning, they'd made it through their first class before Julie had been approached by a few 13 year old campers, all of them giggling and asking Julie if she knew if Luke was looking for a girlfriend. Flynn had quickly driven them off with a glare that would send any grown man running for the hills, and Julie chalked it off to normal pre-teen behaviour, but it hadn't ended there. More campers, all of varying age and most of them girls, had found her throughout the morning, all asking if she knew this and that about Luke, and if she could get his phone number for them, and a variety of other questions.

Julie had tried to escape it, even going as far as to have lunch with Flynn on the outdoor stage, and just when they'd started to relax and dig into their food, Carrie and her minions found them.

"That was _quite_ the display at breakfast." Carrie sniped, her hands planted on her hips as she eyed Julie and Flynn. "We're dying to know how it came to be. Care to share, Julie?"

"Not particularly." Julie replied flatly. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yeah, isn't there a middle schooler somewhere waiting to be terrorized?" Flynn added, and Julie had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing.

Carrie scoffed, narrowing her eyes at Flynn. "Funny." She scoffed. "Just don't get used to Luke hanging around you, or any of the boys from the band, for that matter. We're planning a collab with them, so they'll be too busy working with Dirty Candy to do any more fan service."

"You do that." Julie replied, and Carrie let out a humph, before sashaying away with the rest of her cronies, leaving Julie and Flynn to resume a semi-peaceful lunch.

Dance class proved to be the less terrible part of her day. While no one swarmed her like the younger campers, they talked in hushed voices, and Julie couldn't decide if she liked that better or worse than being bombarded with questions. She'd come to the conclusion that it was a step up from having to deal with rabid Sunset Curve fangirls and that the dance class would be a nice break from stress when the doors opened and in walked Nick.

Depsite her best attempts to hide behind Flynn, Nick spotted her and immediately approached her. "Hey Julie!"

"Hey, you!" Julie replied, looking to Flynn for support. Her friend had other plans, though, and Flynn made herself busy and moved to rummage through her bag a few feet away. "I didn't know you did dance."

"Yeah, well, my little sister throws a lot of princess dance parties, and I figured I should get some practice in while I'm here." Nick chuckled.

"That's sweet of you." Julie smiled, nearly melting on the spot. “I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”

“She better be, or else I’ll have learned all these skills for nothing.” Nice laughed, before he leaning in, a curious look in his eyes. "So, I gotta ask, what was up with you and the Sunset Curve guy this morning?"

Julie's shoulders slumped, the dopey grin slipping off her face. "You know, I was hoping that if I didn't mention it, I could pretend it didn't happen." She sighed. "He just startled me last night and wanted to apologize, and now everyone thinks I know every little thing about him."

"That doesn't sound fun." Nick mused. "Well, if you ask me, you could definitely make up a big story about how he wronged you and get him to pay you off to keep quiet." He added with a wink.

Julie couldn't help but giggle. "I'll keep that in mind." Before she could say anything else, the dance instructor walked in, calling out for them to get into a spot for warmups, and Nick and Julie broke apart, Julie moving to stand with Flynn towards the back while Nick stood with his friends in the front row. Julie couldn't help but blush when he turned around, flashing her a smile.

" _Someone's_ got a crush." Flynn sang in a whisper, and Julie shoved her lightly.

"Shut up." She shot back, unable to suppress the sheepish grin. Thankfully, if Flynn noticed how Julie’s gaze would slide over to the blonde every few minutes, she said nothing.

*******

"This is the _worst_." Julie groaned, flopping facedown onto her bed. She and Flynn had just narrowly escaped another pack of wild 13 year olds, this time armed with magazines claiming to know secrets about Luke Patterson that they wanted Julie to confirm. She’d managed to fend them off with false smiles and affirmation that every fact in the article, including the one about Luke’s secret chest tattoo, was true. "I have one interaction with him, and now I’m suddenly Camp Rock’s resident expert on all things Luke Patterson.”

"The _nerve_ of some people." Flynn scoffed from her bed. "I swear, if one more 13 year old girl comes up and asks if Luke's eyes are really 'as dreamy in person,' I might be provoked to hit a child."

Julie snorted, rolling over to face Flynn. "Then maybe you should run the other way when they come up to me."

"Good call." Flynn sighed. "I heard some of the jazz kids are having an impromptu concert in the ampitheatre. Wanna go?"

"I'm good. You can go, though. I'll probably go for a walk while anyone who can swarm me is in one place."

"Smart girl." Flynn hummed, quickly changing out of her dance clothes and into a pink zip-up dress. "Text me if you need me!" She chirped, before disappearing out the door.

She rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling with a sigh. She couldn't help but think of Luke, and, as much as she wanted to, she knew she couldn't blame him for the day. She thought back to the look on his face when he'd seen everyone watching, his expression a mix of shock and guilt. He had probably tuned out the attention he got and wanted to apologize as soon as he saw her. The poor boy had the right intentions, just awful timing.

 _God_ , what was Julie supposed to do now? She could avoid him like the plague and hope that everyone would forget the breakfast incident, but that might only spur the rumors that had already sprung up. Maybe Nick's idea wasn't completely crazy after all. She could use the money to pay someone to erase everyone's memory and forget the incident every happened. Come to think of it, Carlos would probably know who she would need to talk to for that. Before she could latch onto the idea fully though, Luke's face flashed in her mind, his guilt-laden eyes forcing Julie to abandon the money play. She’d just have to figure out another way to resolve the situation.

Julie let out a groan, before standing up, changing, and heading out the door. A walk would do her some good. Who knows? Maybe the perfect opportunity would present itself.

*******

Luke sat on the edge of the dock, his songbook laid open next to him. He strummed through the chords written down, singing the lyrics under his breath. While the day hadn't been great, Julie's voice still haunted his mind, driving him to look at one of the first real songs he'd written for Sunset Curve, ones he hadn't looked at in ages.

He'd wanted to seek her out right after breakfast and apologize again, this time away from the crowds, but Alex and Reggie had strongly advised against it, instead urging him to call off his search for the day and focus on teaching his classes. According to them, seeking Julie out again would inevitably draw more attention, since everyone would know immediately who he was searching for. The less rumors and talk of the 'drama' between Luke and Julie, the better. 

(In Luke’s opinion, him staying away and avoiding her didn’t seem like the best course of action, but Alex had reminded him of the time Luke had tried letting a girl down nicely and had gotten a hashtag about it trending on Twitter, and he’d figured it was probably best that he took Alex’s advice and avoided another PR nightmare.)

So, Luke had once again resigned to the dock once classes had let out for the day, revisiting songs he'd written years ago and trying to ignore the urge to run around camp and find Julie.

" _Together I think that we can make it, come on, let’s run..._ " Luke sang, his fingers gliding over the strings. He was about to move into the chorus when a noise from behind him made him stop. "Can't a guy get some peace?" He groaned, slumping against his guitar.

"Sorry." Luke froze, his head snapping around to see Julie standing a few feet down the dock. "I was just on a walk and I saw you, but I can go—"

"NO!" Luke scrambled to his feet, and Julie jumped slightly at his volume. "You can stay. I'd love it it you stayed. Please stay." He added sheepishly, his cheeks warm. Thankfully, Julie seemed more amused than disturbed.

"I guess I'll stay, then." Luke relaxed at her words, sitting back down on the dock and patting the space next to him. She accepted his invitation, letting her legs dangle over the water below. "What are you playing?" She asked, nodding to his songbook.

"You heard that?" Luke asked, surprised. "It's a song I wrote for Sunset Curve back when we were still campers."

"You wrote that?" Julie raised an eyebrow, surprised.

"What, are you disappointed it's not like my usual cookie cutter boy band stuff?" Luke couldn't help the bitter edge to his voice, even with his shaky standing with Julie.

Julie didn't seem put off by his tone, instead seeming more curious as she tilted her head to give him a small smile. "Well, I don't really know any of your other music well enough to give an opinion, but I really liked what you were playing then."

"Really?"

"Really." Julie turned and leaned against the post behind her, facing Luke more openly. He mirrored her. "Don't you like your sound? I thought you guys created it here. You're basically Camp Rock legends."

"Some legend." Luke scoffed, plucking absentmindedly at his guitar strings. "We're only allowed to play music that the label thinks will sell, which also happens to be the music they write for us."

"They don't think that song would sell?" She asked, gesturing to the pages he was reading from.

Luke shrugged, keeping his eyes on his hands. "I don't know. It's not like they'd let me try."

"Well, you can tell them you already know one person who'd buy that song." Luke looked up, her words making his heart swell.

"Thanks." He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face, before he raised an eyebrow at her. "Wait, did you just say you don't know our music? Do you live under a rock?"

"Wow, way to sound full of yourself." Julie shot back, her voice was playful.

"Well, not to brag, but Buzzfeed did put us on their list of Top 10 Musicians." Luke leaned towards her. "That's a pretty high honor, if you didn't know."

Julie laughed, and Luke couldn't help but marvel at how even her laughter sounded angellic. "Don't take it personally, I haven't really been into music lately."

"Seriously?" Luke asked. "With a voice like yours, I can't imagine why you wouldn't be."

Julie's smiled disappeared, her eyes dropping to her hands where they sat clasped on her lap. "I grew up playing music and singing and coming here every summer." She murmured, her thumb running over the back of her hand. "But last year, I.....stuff happened, and I couldn't bring myself to play. When you heard me last night, that was first time I've sang since I stopped."

Luke was quiet for a moment, her sudden somberness a mystery to him. He knew when not to push, though. "Well, if that's what you sound like after a year-long break, I'm clearly doing something wrong. I couldn't hold a candle to you."

Julie looked up, her smile returning. If it hadn't been for the warm summer sun, Luke would've sworn she was blushing. "Don't sell yourself short. You're pretty killer." She added, and Luke smiled at her use of his vocabulary.

Luke ran a hair through his hair, suddenly nervous. "Listen, Julie, about last night—"

"You don't have to apologize again." Julie jumped in, more sincere than she'd been at breakfast. "I _may_ have overreacted a bit."

"Maybe a little more than 'a bit.'" Luke mumbled jokingly, and Julie lightly swatted his arm. "Well, let me at least apologize for making things worse at breakfast."

"Apology accepted." She glanced back down at his songbook. "May I?" She asked, and Luke nodded slowly. Julie delicately picked up the notebook, her eyes scanning the page. "Luke, these lyrics.....this song is amazing."

"I can teach it to you, if you want." Luke offered, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. "I actually was looking at it 'cause I couldn't get your voice out of my head, and it's right in your range." Julie stared at him, and Luke suddenly felt like he'd overstepped and tried to backtrack. "I mean, you don't have to—"

"I'd love to!" She cut him off, nearly blinding him with a megawatt smile, and Luke relaxed, before scooching closer so they cvould both look over the pages.

"Okay, so the verses are pretty easy...." He began, Julie listening intently as he launched into the lesson. The two of them sat there as the sun set over the trees, Luke strumming the chords as she easily glided through the song. And, if his heart fluttered a bit every time she closed her eyes and lost herself in his song, that was only for him to know.


	6. Encounters At The Art Barn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is for all you willex stans (aka the entire fandom, because Willex is our air)
> 
> i had fun writing from Alex’s pov. what do you think? 
> 
> hope y’all enjoy :))))

"' _Go get my backpack, Alex_.'" The drummer muttered as he stalked away from the ampitheatre, the sounds of swinging jazz music echoing from behind him. " _'I can't go, I'm playing jazz._ ' Who forgets their backpack?"

Alex loved Reggie deeply, the same way he loved Luke, and the same way both of his bandmates loved him. They were brothers, family, and, like they always said, they'd do anything for each other, no questions asked. But now, as Alex left the fun atmosphere for the impromptu concert behind, he wanted to strangle Reggie. Because, _yes_ , he would do anything for the sweetheart bassist, but that meant he was eating his words after Reggie had given him pleading eyes and asked him to retrieve his backpack where it sat forgotten in the art barn on the other side of camp, and Alex had to say yes.

The two had been sitting in the front row, watching the group of jazz kids performing for the other campers. They'd managed to get a trumpet player, a saxophonist, a guitarist, and a drummer to play through some standards, and had been gearing up to play Brian Bromberg's bass-centric song,'The Chicken,' when they'd invited Reggie to lead them on an upright bass. Two songs later, Reggie had the bright idea to see if they could try and play one of his country songs as a jazz tune, and that song happened to be in the backpack that he had left at the art barn, so now, becuase he would do anything for Reggie, Alex was now making the trek to retrieve it while Reggie jammed with his new friends.

At least the walk gave Alex time to think over _Operation: Figure Out How To Fix Luke's Epic Mistake With Julie_ * (*name subject to change depending on Luke's future actions, because _who knows_ what that boy could get himself into?). He'd given Luke instructions to stay away from Julie for the day, and the frontman was back at the dock with his acoustic, probably playing a ballad about pain—Luke's signature sulking move. That was only a temporary fix. Alex would probably have to coach Luke on the proper way to apologize and get back on her good side. As a chronic user of the word ‘sorry,’ this was Alex's area of expertise.

 _Flowers are definitely too much_ , Alex thought as he made his way past the mess hall and towards the asphalt road that lead to the art barn. _Maybe a card? Is it weird to make a card to apologize?_ Scratch the card idea, Luke's handwriting wouldn't be legible and poor Julie would be trying to decipher Luke's chickenscratch for hours. _Maybe I could apologize to her for him?_

The art barn loomed in front of him, and Alex yanked the door open, his eyes scanning the room. Tables, all smeared with doodles and old paint, sat spaced throughout the room, all surrounded by decorated stools. Half-finished projects, paintbrushes, and cups full of various art supplies littered every surface in the room. And, on top of the table furthest from the entrance, was Reggie's backpack. Alex slung it over his shoulder and was pulling the door shut seconds later. That was easy enough.

He was still deep in thought as he turned away from the art barn, which, in hindsight, explains why he didn't hear the sound of wheels against the asphalt growing louder as the skateboard shot down the path. In fact, Alex didn't register that he had walked directly into the path of a skateboarder until he found himself sprawled facedown on the ground with the wind knocked out of him.

"Aw, man, you dinged my board!" The groan came from a few feet next to him, presumably from the person who'd nearly turned Alex into the next Flat Stanley.

"I dinged your— _dude_ , you ran me over!" Alex huffed, pushing himself to his feet and turning to face his assaliant. "You're lucky I didn't—" Alex stopped short as his eyes found the skater's face.

 _Woah_.

The skater, a guy who looked to be about Alex's age, clutched his helmet in one hand and his skateboard in the other, giving Alex a clear look at his face. _What a face_. Dark hair down to his shoulders, a jawline so sharp that Alex was pretty sure it could cut, left ear pierced with a small gold hoop, and _very_ nice brown eyes that gleamed with some form of amusement.

"I didn't concuss you or anything, did I?" The skater said, his mouth quirking into a grin. "Usually stopping mid-sentence is never a good sign."

"N-no, I'm fine!" Alex replied, his voice higher pitched than normal, and he cleared his throat. Calm down, Alex, deep breaths. "I'm fine." He repeated, his voice significantly lower.

"If you say so." The skater laughed, tucking his helmet under his arm. "Sorry I almost pancaked you. Thought you saw me."

"It's cool." Alex nodded aggressively, his hands fidgeting with the straps of his fanny pack in an attempt to disguised how flustered he was becoming. "I was just in my head. Until you tried to crack it open." He added, and the skater threw back his head and laughed. Alex felt his heart skip a beat. The cute skater looked back at Alex, holding his hand out.

"I'm Willie." Alex shook the outstretched hand, hoping his palms weren't clammy. _Willie_. The name fit perfectly. Well, Alex would probably think that even if his name was Cornelius or Chester or something.

"I'm Alex."

"I know." His heart fluttered as Willie ran his hand through his hair, pushing a few stray locks out of his face. "You're in that band, right? Sunset Curve?"

"Yeah, that's me." Alex was doing his best to stay calm, but _ohmygod, he knows who I am, he remembers who I am, he saw me and remembered I existed—_

“You guys were awesome yesterday.” Willie mused. “I loved the new song. Or, old song? I think Trevor mentioned it was an older one.”

“Thanks.” Alex replied, runnings a hand through his hair in an attempt to act casual. “It was an old song from when we were campers. Trevor’s favorite,” he added.

"Well, consider it my favorite.” Willie smirked, before his eyes dropped to Alex’s shoulder where Reggies backpack hung. “Oh,is that Reggie's bag? I was wondering when he was coming back for that. I run the art classes." Willie added, nodding over to the barn. “Me and the other counselors have been helping him with his quest to build the perfect birdhouse.”

“Yeah, he’s been talking about it whenever he can work it into conversation.” Alex smiled fondly, remembering how, after Luke had spilled on traumatizing Julie, Reggie had wondered aloud if they thought _she’d appreciate a handmade birdhouse as an apology_. “He’s got a passion for it.”

Willie hummed in agreement, before pulling his helmet back on. “Well, I won’t keep you.” He dropped his skateboard back on the ground. “You should stop by the barn sometimes. You strike me as the pottery type.” He grinned, beginning to roll away. “Catch you later, Alex!” He called over his shoulder as the skateboard gained speed, and seconds later, Willie disappeared down the hill.

“Bye.” Alex replied, his heart racing.

The walk back to the ampitheatre was a blur, Alex’s mind still stuck on Willie and their conversation. He replayed their interaction over and over, his cheeks flushing at the thought of the skater smiling at him or laughing at what he said. _Was this what the internet meant by ‘gay panic?_ ’ He nearly walked right into Reggie, who only avoided collision by snagging the bag from Alex and snapping him out of his trance.

“Sweet, my bag!” The bassist cried, his arm already digging through its contents. “Thanks, Alex! You’re the best.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Alex mumbled, his mind already back on the skater.

A half hour later, Reggie and the band had gone through 3 country-jazz fusion songs before they were forced to wrap things up for dinner. Reggie was beaming as he and Alex began walking to where they’d left Luke on the dock. By then, Alex was out of his head enough to brainstorm with Reggie, Willie now pushed to the back of his mind.

“I still think you’re sleeping on the birdhouse approach.” Reggie said as they neared the lake.

“Whatever you say, Reg.” Alex sighed, clapping a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s still a better idea than letting Luke talk to her on his own.”

“I’ll bet you $5 that he’ll try again.”

“You’re so on. Get ready to lose—” The two boys stopped at the end of the dock, their jaws dropping at what they were seeing. “You’re kidding.”

There, sitting next to each other on the edge of the dock laughing and talking, was Julie and Luke. The tensions and awkwardness they’d witnessed at breakfast was gone, replaced by friendly banter and jokes. Reggie and Alex shared a skeptical look. Wordlessly, Alex opened his fanny pack and slapped a $5 bill into Reggie’s palm.

Mid-sentence, Luke’s head turned and he caught sight of his bandmates standing at the end of the dock. He said something to Julie, before the two stood and made their way towards them, still deep in their conversation. As they grew closer, Alex heard a few snippets, most of them about music and lyrics and songwriting, though they halted their spiel when they joined Alex and Reggie.

“Hey guys!” Luke greeted, looking more cheerful than Alex had ever seen him. “This is Julie. Julie, this is Reggie and Alex.”

“Hi!” Julie chirped, offering a smile. “It’s cool to meet you guys.”

“Same here.” Alex replied with a smile.

“Ditto. Hey, what’s your opinion on birdhouses?” Reggie asked, and Alex elbowed sharply him in the ribs. “ _Ow!_ It’s a valid question.” He sniped at Alex, rubbing his side.

Julie laughed, turning to Luke. “I’ve gotta meet Flynn before dinner. See you later?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Luke smiled down at her, his eyes following her as she bid Reggie and Alex goodbye and disappeared down the path towards her cabin.

“How did you do that?” Alex asked.

“What can I say? I have a way with words.” Luke replied with a grin, tapping Alex’s chest with the corner of his notebook. “And to think you _doubted_ me.”

“I still do.” Alex deadpanned as the trio began walking back towards their cabin, and Luke shoved him in retaliation.

“I’m 83% sure she’s the birdhouse type. She gives me those vibes” Reggie said, and Luke and Alex rolled their eyes. “I’ll have to ask Willie, he’s good at reading people’s vibes.”

At the mention of Willie, Alex perked up. “Hey, do you guys see me as a pottery person?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next update will take a few days, as i’m getting my wisdom teeth removed thursday! i’ll make sure it’s worth the wait :)


	7. It Could Be About Completing It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay on this chapter! i got my wisdom teeth out thursday, and the recovery and tylenol stunted my creative process. i will try to have less time between updates!
> 
> this chapter was fun to write hehe
> 
> any typos will be corrected later when it’s not 1 a.m. on a school night👀

Julie hummed to herself as she made her way down the path towards her next class, nodding her head and smiling at passing campers in greeting. Her popularity had thankfully cooled down, and the most she had to deal with now were absolute strangers calling her name and waving. It was a nice change from the swarming mobs, and she didn’t feel as defenseless without Flynn, who had doubled back to their cabin to grab her forgotten notebook for her next class.

Julie had just rounded the corner when a stick landed on the ground just in front of her, making her stop in confusion. She turned to where the stick had come from, only to be hit square in the face with another one. Luckily, it was small and just bounced off her, but she still stumbled back out of surprise.

“Shit, I’m sorry!” A voice hissed from in front of her, and her eyes landed on where Luke stood peering around a tree. “I was aiming for your arm.”

“What are you doing?” Julie asked flatly.

“Getting your attention.” Luke shot back in a whisper. “What else would I need the sticks for?”

“You know, calling my name would’ve worked just as effectively.”

“Just come here!” Luke waved her over, and, rolling her eyes, Julie did as he asked.

“Why are we behind a tree?” She asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at him.

“Well, I figured since the last time I tried to talk to you when people were around, it went horribly wrong, so....” He gestured at the tree, “Solution.”

Julie couldn’t help but smile at that. It was oddly sweet. “So, what’s up? Or are we just behind the tree to say hello?”

“Right.” Luke grinned. “I wanted to see if you wanted to work more on _Bright_ later, maybe during your free block? I could use your opinion on some of it.”

“Oh.” Her mouth fell slightly agape. The frontman of what Flynn said to be one of the most famous bands in the world wanted her opinion? She was momentarily speechless. Luke seemed to take her silence as him being too forward and opened his mouth to say something, but she headed him off before he could take back the offer. “I mean, yeah, sure! I’d love to.”

Luke brightened. “Awesome. I can meet you in cabin with the grand piano? Where I scared you?” He added with a smirk.

“Sounds perfect.” Julie murmured. They stood there in silence for a moment, smiling at each other, and Julie felt warm. She’d known Luke for less than 2 days, but being around him felt familiar. Something about him just made her feel at ease.

The sound of campers passing by their hiding spot snapped them out of their trance. “I should probably go.” Julie nodded back in the direction of the path. “I have class.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Luke nodded, leaning an arm against the tree. “I wouldn’t wanna make you late. See you later, then?”

“See you later.” She replied, turning and making her way back onto the path, heading towards her next class. She couldn’t resist the urge to glance over her shoulder, and she found Luke’s eyes still on her from where he was hidden, his smile still hitting her full force even with the distance. She sent him a quick wave before turning down the path and making her way down the hill.

This time, without hesitation and with a newfound confidence, Julie pulled open the door to the Vocal Performance cabin. The new counselor, who stood at the grand piano shuffling some papers around, looked up when Julie entered.

“Mrs. Harrison?” Julie asked, and the counselor smiled. “I’m Julie Molina. I’m in this class.”

*******

Luke was practically skipping on his way to go meet Julie. His acoustic, now in its case, bounced against his back as he walked, and his fingers tapped out a drumbeat against the cover of his songbook. He flashed a few grins at the campers watching him as he passed, but didn’t stop to chat. He didn’t want to be late.

As he neared the cabin, he heard a melody he didn’t recognize coming from inside, and when he pulls open the door—the front door, this time, he learned his lesson—he can hear Julie faintly singing along. She stops before he can make out any words, sending him a small smile.

“Hey,” she murmurmed, her hands falling off the keys and into her lap.

“Am I late?” Luke asked as he walked over to her, sliding his guitar case off his shoulders and propping it up against the piano.

“No, I just got here early.” She slid over on the piano bench, patting the empty space next to her just as Luke had done at the dock the day before. He couldn’t ignore the swell of warmth in his chest as he accepted her invitation.

“What were you playing just now?” Luke asked as he thumbed open his songbook to the dogeared page, placing Bright on the music stand between them. “Was it something you wrote?”

Julie kept her eyes fixed on her hands. “I was just messing around.” She mumbled, before shifting her gaze to the song. “So, what did you wanna work on?”

Just like that, the conversation became only about the song. It was easy for Luke to get lost in working on the music, especially now that it was something he had created. The damn that had blocked his creative flow opened, and he was able to pinpoint things he wanted to tweak and change. He hadn’t written a real song in years, but writing now felt familiar, like a part of his brain had finally woken up and the gears started turning again..

Julie was a huge reason for it. She challenged him, made him look at the melody and the chords differently than he had before. Her brain was like an endless well of ideas and music, and he saw his own passion mirrored in her. They worked easily together, passing the pencil back and forth to scribble on the pages, and once or twice they would wordlessly have the same idea and one of them would write it down. He didn’t even noticed the time passing, his head was in full-writing mode.

“...It’ll sound better you go up on the second ‘forever.’ Like this,” Julie was saying as hands flying over the keys to find the chords. “ _Shine together, bright forever!_ ” She sang, her voice easily sliding up to the high note. She glanced at him, her eyes bright. “What do you think?”

“I think—” Luke scratched out the old melody, writing in the opt-up. “—that you’re really good at this.”

Julie smiled sheepishly, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. “It’s nothing special. You already wrote an amazing song. I’m just working with what’s already there.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Luke knocked her shoulder with his. “I wouldn’t have been able to half of what we’ve done on my own. Plus, it’s fun having someone to write with.” He added.

“Yeah, it is.” Julie sighed, her voiced tinged with sadness. Luke looked at her out of the corner of his eye, trying to decipher the longing look on her face. She had done that at the dock, too, and Luke hadn’t pressed then despite his curiousity. He couldn’t suppress it now, though, and the question spilled out of him before he could overthink it.

“So, do you write?” He asked, and she seemed to stiffen beside him.

“I used to.” She told him, speaking in a way that told him she was choosing her words carefully. “I wrote a few songs with my mom growing up.”

“She’s into music?”

“Something like that, yeah.” Julie suddenly straightened. “Why don’t you use this?” She asked suddenly, pointing at the notebook.

“Use what?” Luke asked, thrown off by the sudden change of topic.

“This song. For your album, I mean.” Julie added, her fingers tracing the words on the page. “You said you’re trying to find your sound again, but you already have this song, and probably a few others that are just as good. Wouldn’t they work?”

Luke ran a hand through his hair. “I guess they never felt finished.” He shrugged. “We played _Bright_ and some of the other songs a bunch of different times. It never really fit with the band. _Now or Never_ was the first song that really clicked, actually. The lyrics and the melody are true Sunset Curve, but the sound always felt incomplete. Besides, we want to start from scratch for the album, channel what we have now.”

“I get that.” Julie nodded. “Maybe it’s not about finding your sound. It could be about completing it.” Her nose scunched up as she peered at the page, lightly playing the song. “Besides, there’s definitely a voice missing. Synth, maybe, or keyboard. It’d give it more of a pop-rock feel that you could build in the first verses.” She leaned back, her eyes on the keys as she began to sing. “ _Sometimes I think I’m falling down, I wanna cry, I’m calling out..._ ”

As she made her way through the lyrics, the gears in Luke’s brain started to turn. He could hear the guitar, bass, and drums underneath her voice. He could hear some of Alex’s perfectly placed drum fills, and Reggie’s killer baseline. He could even hear the sound of his electric wailing on power chords, pulsing through the pre-chorus and chorus. And he heard something else, too, the keyboard like Julie had mentioned, filling in the empty spaces in his mind.

_Maybe it’s not about finding your sound. It could be about completing it._

Something clicked in his brain, and the plan that unfolded was so clear Luke wondered why he hadn’t seen it before. (Maybe Alex was right and he did need glasses.)

“Hey, would you ever want to help me and the guys rehearse this?” Luke asked, crossing one leg on the bench so he could face Julie. “We were thinking of playing _Bright_ for the Beach Jam on Friday, and a new set of ears would be killer.”

Julie seemed surprised at his offer, and for a minute Luke was afraid she’d reject it, but she quickly eased his fears. “I’d love to!”

Step one, complete. Who knew his plans were this easy?

Julie glanced at the clock on the wall. “We should probably start heading back. Flynn said she’d meet me before next block.”

They left the classroom behind, trudging side by side up the hill. Julie insisted that Luke could walk with her, citing the fact that most people were at the lake and that she didn’t mind being seen with him now that they were friends, a fact that stirred the fluttering in his chest again. As they passed one of the cabins used for the various dance classes Camp Rock offered, the sound of music made them stop to see who was inside.

Luke couldn’t make out the lyrics, only hearing the backing track of whatever song was playing, but he and Julie had a clear view of the group of girls dancing through the windows. He recognized Carrie and her friends, all of them performing the same choreograhy seamlessly. So this was the group she’d mentioned.

“They’re called Dirty Candy, right?” He asked Julie, who watched the girls with a neutral expression. “Are they any good?”

“They’re great.” Julie said, her voice earnest. “They practice nonstop, and they’re all strong dancers and singers. Carrie, especially. She puts a lot of work into writing and choroegraphing everything.”

“I bet.” Luke nodded, watching as Carrie strutted through the girls around her, front and center in the dance. “Seems a bit like it’s the Carrie Show.”

“I guess.” Julie shrugged. “She’s really talented, though. Her mom, Tess Wilson, is pretty famous in the industry, and Carrie wants to prove to everyone she’s just as good as her mom.”

Luke looked at Julie, his eyebrows pinched together. “You say that like she told you that herself.”

Julie pressed her lips into a thin line. “We’ve been at camp the same amount of time. You hear things.” She mumbled, before turning back to the path and continuing to walk. Luke fell in step beside her, not entirely convinced by her answer. He had only known her for a few days, though. He’d give it a week before he let himself ask more questions.

Besides, he had a plan to follow. Next step, call a band meeting. They had things to discuss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooo what plan could Luke be talking about? and what’s up with Julie and Carrie? more answers, and questions, to come....
> 
> let me know your thoughts! 
> 
> also, all the comments you guys add make my days so much better, so thank you all! i love reading and responding to them. it makes me feel like a real part of the fandom and the community🥺


	8. Make ‘Em Say “Um...What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is probably the longest chapter i’ve written so far for the fic, but i wanted to pack in everything i could! 
> 
> also, there’s a Camp Rock movie reference somewhere in the chapter. try and find it!
> 
> hope you enjoy hehe
> 
> p.s. i didn’t spell check this at all because it’s 11pm at night and i have HW due so lmk if there are typos hehe🤩

Reggie stuck his tongue out in concentration as he positioned the ruler on the piece of paper. Placing the tip of the pencil down, he slowly traced a straight line, pressing down just enough so the line was the perfect thickness. When he finished the line, he moved the ruler away, blowing any bits that had made it onto the page, and straightened, taking in his work.

 _There_ , he thought. _It's perfect._

He'd had about 10 seconds to admire his sketch before the serenity was broken.

"—just don't get why you think it's a bad idea." Reggie recognized Luke's voice, and he looked up. The art barn's door was open, letting in the warm summer breeze, and Reggie had chosen to sit at the table next to the doorway that was bathed in the sunlight—it had the best lighting to draw with. From his spot, he had a clear view of Luke and Alex walking down the path towards the barn, and, from the tone of Luke's voice and the look on both boy's faces, Reggie knew they were arguing.

"Gee, I don't know, maybe it's the fact that there are a lot of things that could go wrong, to start." Alex shot back as they stepped into the barn. He turned to Reggie, looking very annoyed with the guitarist. "Reg, back me up here."

"Back you up on what, exactly?" Reggie asked.

"Luke wants to do something stupid, and we are telling him it's a terrible idea." Alex stated, crossing his arms.

"Excuse me, that is not what's happening." Luke turned to Reggie. "I want Julie to play with us at the Beach Jam on Friday."

"That doesn't sound stupid."

"Oh, and he also wants her to join the band." Alex added, shooting Luke an exasperated look.

" _Ahh_." Reggie nodded, the dots now connected in his head. "I see the issue."

"Except there are no issues because it's the greatest idea ever." Luke threw up his hands. "Think about it, boys. She's got the voice—"

"A voice we've never heard." Alex chimed in.

"—she writes amazing songs—"

"Songs she's never played for you."

"—and she's so passionate, and before you say I don't know that, Alex, I do, because anyone who is passionate about music in any way, shape, or form comes to Camp Rock." He added, glaring at the drummer.

"One for three. I'm convinced." Alex scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know, Alex." Reggie shrugged. "Luke doesn't lie about that stuff. Especially when it's about music."

"See?" Luke threw an arm around Reggie. "He gets it."

"Can we take a second to just think about the things that could go wrong?" Alex groaned, throwing his hands up. "If Caleb finds out, he'll get pissed and pull us from camp, or sue us. Plus, he'd never agree to Julie joining the band, Julie could get thrown into the middle of everything, and I'm not even bringing up the possibility that we maybe could sound horrible together. Do you need me to continue?"

"What you _need_ is to hear me out." Luke moved to stand in front of Alex, his hands falling on the drummer's shoulders. "I know I might sound a little crazy right now, but all I'm asking is one rehearsal. We can try out _Bright_ with her, see if she can groove with us. Please?" Alex stayed silent, and Luke dropped his hands. "Can we at least vote on it?"

"Fine. We can vote." Alex raised his hand. "I vote that this is a terrible idea."

"Reg?" Luke asked, and both boys turned to Reggie, Luke with his signature puppy dog eyes, and Alex with a tired look.

His eyes bounced between them, and he pursed his lips, considering his options. On the one hand, Alex did have a point. Even if Julie had the best voice on the planet, Caleb would never let her join the band. He's too obsessed in keeping the heartthrob boyband image. Plus, he'd only agreed to let the band come to Camp Rock to write the album. If he found out they did anything but that, Caleb would sue them regardless of their deal. Reggie was tempted to vote with Alex right then and there....

....but when he looked at Luke, Reggie paused. He hadn't seen Luke this excited about their music since....well, since they won Final Jam, if he was being honest. Caleb had worked them and beaten them down until the fire in Luke's eyes had died, so much so that he had been dragging his feet through every step of the way. After the boys had left Julie last night, Luke had bounced around their cabin like a puppy, full of energy and playing through their old songs. Looking into his eyes now, Reggie saw the same thing in Luke he'd seen last night: _the fire_.

"One rehearsal can't hurt." Reggie conceded.

"Yes!" Luke cried, throwing his arms around Reggie. "You're the best bassist a guy could ask for." Luke pulled away, his eyes aglow. "I gotta go find Julie and set up a time. See you!" He called, turning and running out of the barn.

Alex facepalmed. " _Why_ do you do this to me?" He groaned.

"C'mon, Alex, look at him." Reggie mused. "When's the last time you saw him this excited about something? He clearly has a plan."

"Yeah, well the last plan he had ended up with all three of us having salmonella." Alex sighed, and Reggie's hand instinctively covered his stomach. _Damn those street dogs_.

"Hey, I promise that if this ends up being a horrible idea, I'll side with you." Reggie assured him. When Alex's face remained sullen, Reggie added, "Oh, and by the way, Willie gave me something to give to you."

Alex perked up, turning to Reggie. "What is it?"

Reggie reached into his bag on the table next to him, pulling out the neatly folded apron and handing it to Alex. "He said you'd need it for all the pottery stuff."

Reggie watched as the drummer's thumbs ran over where his name was neatly embroidered in the center. "He made this...for _me_?" Alex's voice cracked, and Reggie watched as his aggravation turned to giddiness.

"Yeah, he spent about an hour on it. Dragged out one of the sewing machines for it, too." Reggie added, and Alex flushed.

"That's really sweet of him." Alex smiled. "I should go find him and thank him. Unless, is that too forward? No, no, it's just polite. Yeah, I'll go find him. Bye, Reg." He added, turning and leaving Reggie alone again in the art barn.

The bassist smiled as he watched Alex's retreating form. Now all three of them were happy. Reggie turned back to his drawing, picking up his pencil again. He looked over his work, scribbling in one last measurement next to the new line, before scrawling _Reggie's Perfect Birdhouse_ across the top of the paper.

 _Now_ it was perfect.

*******

As it turned out, Alex's fears that their rehearsal would go awfully were all proven to be wrong.

Luke tried not to be too smug as the rehearsal went on, but he couldn't help but shoot an 'I told you so' look at Alex every so often. The drummer hardly paid any attention to Luke, too busy laughing at something Julie had said.

They sat in one of the unused rehearsal spaces. Alex had set up the drum kit, and Julie had a keyboard, mics, and amps from one of the closets—she seemed to know where everything was. Luke was pretty sure she hadn't even looked at which door she was opening before she'd reached in and pulled out what they'd needed. Julie sat at the keyboard, looking content.

They'd been rehearsing _Bright_ for an hour, and Luke had been proven right. Julie fit perfectly with their sound. Whether she was vamping chords along with their playing, or chiming in with a harmony none of them had thought of, or even taking a verse for herself, she felt like the piece they hadn't realized had been missing. The music aside, she flowed as easily with the other two boys as she did with Luke. Their rapport was one of friends who'd known each other for years, and Alex and Reggie were happy to chat with her between runs of the song.

"Dude, how long were you gonna keep her from us?" Alex's voice brought Luke out of his head. "She's, like, _amazing_."

"I've been saying that all week, how are you only realizing this now?" Luke replied, and he saw Julie smile sheepishly.

"Oh, stop it." She mumbled. "You guys are the amazing ones."

“ _And_ she's humble." Reggie sighed happily. "Coming to camp was the best decision we ever made."

Julie ducked her head, a smile plastered on her face, and Luke grinned He could admit he'd been nervous about how the guys would react to Julie, and seeing them so at ease with each other made the worrying worth it.

"Let's run it again." Luke said, adjusting the guitar strap. "Julie, wanna start us off?"

"I still don't see how me singing your part helps you rehearse for tomorrow night." Julie said as she straightened, her hands finding their starting positions.

"C'mon, we're just having fun." Luke shrugged. "Live a little."

"Fine, okay." Julie rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hide the fond smile. "From the top?"

"From the top." The boys all chorused, and Julie nodded, before closing her eyes and playing the opening chords.

As Julie sang the opening verse, Luke's eyes were glued to her. He was fascinated with the way she immediately lost herself in the music, closing her eyes and letting her hands find their way across the keys on instinct. He liked the way she'd nod her head along to the notes, or how she'd furrow her brow when she did a run. They were all motions born out of passion for the music she played.

Luke was so busy watching her he almost missed his cue, and he only just came in on the bridge. Alex and Reggie shot him a look that made him redden, and he looked away, his eyes back on Julie as she beamed at him, belting out the chorus. He grinned at her before launching into the second verse, leaning into the microphone and losing himself in the music.

As the song came to an epic close, they all shared excited looks, a sheen of sweat on all their faces. Julie looked especially pleased, and, when she flashed her mega-watt smile at Luke, he felt warm all over.

"I think that's the best run we've ever had of a song, like, _ever_!" Reggie exclaimed, sliding the bass over his head and leaning it against his amp. "Can we do it again?"

"As much as I'd love to, it's a no from me." Julie chuckled, wiping the sweat off her brow as she moved to stand next to Luke. "All that playing has made me sweaty and gross, and your girl needs a shower before we have to face dinner."

"If you think your gross now, you should see us after one of our concerts." Alex appeared next to Reggie, leaning on the bassist's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure you could fill a Hydroflask with our sweat."

"I did not need that detail in my life." Julie cringed, before scooping her bag off the floor. "You guys are going to do amazing tomorrow."

"Come hang with us backstage before we go on." Luke said, trying to sound chill and definitely not like he was planning something at all. "Bring Flynn. We'd love to meet her."

"I’ll try.” She waved as she turned, pushing open the door and heading out. “See you, boys.”

Luke watched her walk away through the screen door for a moment before turning to Alex. “So?”

The drummer looked between him and Reggie, who mirrored Luke’s expectant gaze. “What’s the next step of this plan of yours?”

Luke pushed betweent them and slung his arm around Alex and Reggie’s shoulders. All three boys grinned. “I’m _so_ glad you asked.”

*******

“Jules, I love you, but if I have to drown in the scent of someone using too much Axe Body Spray just so we can get backstage, I’m gonna lose it.” Flynn grumbled as Julie pulled her through the crowd of campers.

“Sorry, I’ll try to avoid them.” Julie said, suppressing the urge to giggle.

The Beach Jam, the first official Jam of the summer, took place on the same outdoor stage where Trevor Wilson had kicked off the summer only days before. It was decked out for the event, with special lights lining the edge of the stage and lit tiki torches lining the grassy area that held the crowd Julie and Flynn were weaving their way through. The campers were abuzz with excitement, all of them dressed up and chattering about who was playing and who they thought would be the best of the night. A few were speculating about Sunset Curve and if they’d be playing a new song or doing one of their well-known hits. (Julie smiled when she heard them debating. It was nice to know the inside scoop.)

Julie had hardly seen the boys since their rehearsal yesterday, their only interactions being a few shared looks across the mess hall. After the last classes had finished, she and Flynn had spent the hours before sundown putting together their best looks, while the guys had been off rehearsing _Bright_ through the afternoon. She didn’t try to seem as eager to get backstage as she felt, but a few pointed looks from Flynn told her that she was doing a poor job.

Just as Julie had pushed their way through about half the camp population, Trevor Wilson’s booming voice came through the speakers.

“Good evening Camp Rockers!” The crowd around her erupted into cheers and applause so loud Julie winced. “Who’s ready for the Beach Jam?” More cheers, though not as bad. Julie glanced up to see Trevor onstage, donning a fun Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses, despite the sun having already set, probably to go with the beach-theme. “We have got quite the lineup for you tonight. Starting us off, let’s give it up for Lola Scott singing _What It Takes_!”

Julie and Flynn finally broke through the edge of the crowd as the first song began. The performers all stood behind the mess hall in the designated ‘backstage,’ the building hiding them from the audience. Trevor was chatting with one of the counselors as they watched the performance. A few other performers lingered around the edge of the stage—Flynn said something about recognizing the jazz kids—but Julie and Flynn passed them without a glance. Closer to the beach, Julie saw a group of girls, all dressed in pastels with wigs to match, and her chest twinged as she recognized Carrie at the centre of the group. She was saying something to the other girls, hands on her hips and a confident look on her face. Julie turned away, mentally reminding herself that she was looking for the guys. Still, she couldn’t ignore the small knot in her stomach.

It wasn’t hard to find the boys. The minute she’d stepped into their line of sight, all three of them jumped to their feet. “Julie!” The cheered, rushing over. Reggie and Luke had their instruments slung over their backs, while Alex’s drumsticks stuck out of his back pocket.

“We were wondering when you’d show up.” Reggie beamed at her.

“The crowd was a pain to get through.” Julie said.

“Yeah, she tackled at least 3 seventh graders to get over here.” Flynn laughed from beside her, before holding out her hand to Alex and Reggie. “I’m Flynn. Lovely to meet you.”

“So this is the famous Flynn.” Alex shook her hand first. “We’ve heard lots about you.”

“All good things, we promise.” Reggie added, pushing Alex’s hand aside so he could shake hers. “Julie’s told us a lot about you.”

“Yeah, when she can get a word in edgewise.” Luke shoved Reggie’s shoulder playfully, nodding at Flynn. “Hey again.”

Behind them, the sound of applause followed by an upbeat jazz song signaled the next group, and Julie tapped her foot along to the beat. (She was bummed she missed the outdoor concert. These jazz kids were _good_.)

“Are you guys nervous?” Julie asked.

Luke bounced on the balls of his feet, his hands shoved into deep in his pockets. “Tonight we are.”

“Well, you have no reason to be.” Julie assured him, offering him a supportive smile. “You guys are going to do great. People will love Bright.” Luke smiled back at her, before trading a look Julie couldn’t decipher with the other two boys. Before she could try and figure them out, though, Trevor’s voice boomed once again over the speakers.

“Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Dirty Candy!”

Julie’s head whipped around, watching as Carrie and her friends made their way onstage. Beside her, Flynn groaned. “Ugh, the demon queen is on.”

Without thinking, Julie moved back towards the edge of the stage, ignoring Flynn’s protests as she watched Dirty Candy assemble onstage. Distantly, she felt Luke, Reggie, Alex, and Flynn stand next to her, giving her confused looks before turning their attention the stage.

The opening beats of the music came in, and right away Dirty Candy was in sync, all of them marching downstage to the beat. They all turned on the beatdrop, and Carrie began singing as she flawlessly executed the choreography.

_See ‘em look, hear ‘em ‘Ooh-Ahh,’_

_Hands up, throwback, booyah!_

_We’re the best, no doubt,_

_Check it out, yeah we make ‘em saw ‘WOW!’_

The audience was loving it, bobbing their heads and dancing in place. Julie could see Nick towards the front, cheering Carrie on with some of his friends. She resisted the urge to dance along with them, more for Flynn’s sake than her own. Alex didn’t seem to care, dancing along next to Luke, who quickly stopped him after earning an annoyed look from Flynn.

As Dirty Candy struck their final pose, the crowd went wild. Carrie was smiling onstage, a look of satisfaction on her face. The girls basked in the adoration for a moment, before Carrie snapped and they all fell in line, walking off-stage in a way that made it clear that even their exit was meticulously choreographed.

“Wow.” Reggie breathed. “That was....insane.”

“That’s a word for it.” Flynn grumbled next to Julie, before turning to the guys. “You’re on next, right?”

“Yeah, we are.” Luke nodded, his eyes slipping past Flynn and landing on Julie, who another encouraging smile. He still seemed nervous, shifting his weight from foot to foot and fiddling with his guitar strap.

The sound of feet marching down the stage steps made Julie turn. Dirty Candy had just made it offstage, and Carrie’s eyes fell on Julie, before skipping over to Sunset Curve and back. She narrowed her eyes, and Julie clasped her hands in front of her. She suddenly felt as if she was being evaluated.

Reggie broke the tense silence. “Great job up there, ladies.” He said with a wink. The four girls flanking Carrie all beamed at him, some of them blushing.

“What are you doing backstage?” Carrie asked nonchalantly. Her eyes told a different story. “Shouldn’t you two be enjoying the show?”

“We were just wishing the guys luck.” Julie responded, squeezing her hands tightly. The relaxed atmosphere she’d had just moments ago had disappeared under Carrie’s gaze. “Good job up there, by the way.” She added, which seemed to somewhat appease Carrie.

“Thanks.” Carrie replied. “Well, good luck boys. It’s a tough act to follow.” She added with a playful smirk, before she and the rest of Dirty Candy moved to stand on the edge of the audience.

Flynn looked at Julie, impressed. “I’ve never seen anyone hold their own against Carrie before.”

“She’s not that bad.” Julie shrugged, quickly changing the subject as Trevor walked up the steps and crossed to centerstage. “Looks like you’re up.” She said to the guys, who grinned.

“Finally, let’s welcome to the stage Sunset Curve!” Trevor called, and the audience went wild.

The boys shared another look, before making their way towards the stage. Luke lingered, looking more and more nervous by the second. Julie instintively laid her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Hey, they’re gonna love it.” She murmured, and Luke relaxed, meeting her gaze.

“Thanks.” His hand briefly covered hers, before he followed his bandmates.

Luke marched past Trevor, high-fiving him as he walked by. He quickly plugged his guitar into the amp and stood at the mic. “How you doin’?” He asked, flashing a charming smile at the crowd, and they cheered. Julie swore she could make out the cheers from the mob of preteens. (It’s not like she wanted to. Those girls scarred her, okay?)

“We’re gonna be playing a new song for you guys tonight.” Luke said, and Julie felt a swell of pride. They were actuallly playing Bright! Onstage, Luke paused, taking a deep breath, before continuing. “But we can’t do play it without someone else.”

Julie froze, her hands mid-clap. Beside her, Flynn looked as stunned and confused as she felt. What was happening?

Luke turned, his eyes locking on Julie, and he pointed at her. “Everyone, give it up for _Julie Molina!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a cliffhanger?? mwahahaha
> 
> not only did you get a Reggie POV—Reggie chapters are coming, I promise—you got a Luke POV AND a Julie POV. this chapter was long, but it was sm fun to write! what was your favoirte part? what do you think will happen next? and, again, what is up with julie and carrie?
> 
> let me know your thoughts!


	9. Rise Through The Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is! after a long awaited cliffhangar, the next chapter!
> 
> this is the first time i’m writing a full song in a chapter, and it was fun to play around with writing the interactions between lyrics. i hope you enjoy!

Julie was frozen.

Her name had barely left Luke's mouth before the crowd that had been so hyped up moments before turned almost silent, the only sound being unintelligible murmurs of confusion. She could almost hear what they were saying: _Who's Julie Molina? What are they doing? Is this some sort of prank?_ Maybe that last one was what Julie was thinking, because there was no way that this was real. She was waiting for Luke to say it was a joke and play their song.

"What are you doing?" Flynn brought her out of her trance, her hand shaking Julie's shoulder. "Get up there!"

" _Are you kidding?_ " Julie shot back, her eyes scanning the crowd, who had begun to zero in on her. "I can't go up there!"

"Well, do something quick, because the boys are waiting on you." Flynn nodded towards the stage, and Julie glanced over. Luke, Reggie, and Alex were all watching her expectantly. Luke's gaze was the strongest, and Julie had to look away before it became too intense. Looking over the audience wasn't much better. They kept glancing between Julie and Sunset Curve, some still confused, while others seemed annoyed that they hadn't started playing. On the edge of the crowd, Julie saw Dirty Candy standing with arms crossed. If looks could kill, Julie would be dead by simply looking into Carrie's eyes.

Before she could debate running into the lake to disappear, the sound of her name stopped her thoughts short.

" _Julie! Julie! Julie!"_

She zeroed in on the culprit in seconds. It was Nick, standing in the crowd with his hands cupped around his mouth. Nick was chanting her name. _Nick was chanting her name_. She watched as he nudged the friends around him to join, and the chant spread like wildfire. Soon, mostly due to mob mentality, the crowd was chanting her name. All except Dirty Candy, of course, not that anyone but Julie was counting.

An arm settled around Julie's shoulders, and she turned to see Trevor, giving her a supportive grin. "My advice? Just go with it." He mnurmured, steering her towards the stage steps. "No matter how good or bad it ends up going, I can put them on kitchen duty for the rest of the summer for you." He added with a wink, and Julie shakily laughed.

"You got this Jules!" She heard Flynn say behind her. Taking a deep breath, Julie walked up the steps and onto the stage.

Under the stage lights, Julie suddenly felt small and unsure. Was she wearing the right outfit? Her camo jumpsuit had seemed perfect for the Beach Jam earlier, but that was before she'd been thrust under the spotlight. Should she have worn her hair down? Her fingers itched to take it out of the bun. Did she seem too stiff? She tried to relax her shoulders as she strolled over to Luke, who beamed at her.

As she stood next to Luke, the audience burst into applause. Julie forced a smile and waved at the crowd, hissing at Luke through her teeth. "What are you doing?"

"Just trust me." He shot back through his smile.

"I am going to _kill_ you."

"Kill me after we perform." He nodded his head over towards Reggie. Julie followed his gaze, realizing that a keyboard and microphone were set up right where she'd sat in their rehearsals. She had been too busy easing Luke's nerves—nerves about getting her onstage, it seemed—to notice the stagehands set the keyboard up between acts.

Julie begrudingly moved behind the keyboard, mostly because she wasn't about to refuse in front of everyone. She had to spend an entrie summer with them, after all, and it wouldn't be spent ducking her head in shame everyday if she could help it. She sat in the stool, adjusting the microphone and letting her hands hover over the keyboard.

For a moment, she was still, the gravity of what she was about to do crashing down on her. Not even a week ago, she'd run away when faced with the thought of singing again, preffering hiding than facing music without her mother. Finding and singing Wake Up had changed something, had relit the fire inside Julie's soul. She'd managed to play, sing, and write more music in the span of a week than she had in the entire year since her mother's death. But all of those moments were in the comfort of privacy, among friends, hidden away in empty classrooms while the rest of camp was far enough away that they wouldn't hear her. Now, facing a crowd of her peers, all eyes on her, could she really do this?

Julie looked over to Flynn and Trevor, both of them offering thumbs up and wide smiles. She looked back at Reggie and Alex, who nodded encouragingly. Then to Luke, who gave her a small smile, and mouthed, ' _Just like we practiced_.'

As much as she wanted to throttle him right now, which would probably entertain everyone watching, Luke's silent affirmation made her relax. Her fingers found their keys, and she began playing the opening chords of Bright. Looking out to the audience, she began to sing.

_Sometimes I think I'm fallin' down,_

_I wanna cry, I'm calling out_

_For one more try to feel alive._

_And when I feel lost and alone,_

_I know that I can make it home,_

_Fight through the dark and find the spark!_

Julie felt the tension leave her body, and as she reached the pre-chorus, her eyes found Luke, who watched her as he came in on guitar. _Just like in rehearsal,_ she reminded herself, and she held his gaze as she sang.

_Life is a risk but I will take it,_

_Close my eyes and jump._

_Together I think that we can make it,_

_Come on, let's run!_

Julie leaned forward, closing her eyes as she reached the chorus. As the others joined in, Alex banging on the drums and Reggie walking on the bassline, she relaxed even more, letting their sound wash over her.

_And rise through the night!_

_You and I, we will fight_

_To shine together, bright forever!_

Julie opened her eyes again, meeting Luke's gaze. The guitarist was beaming at her, and he nodded her over. Before she could doubt herself, she pulled the mic out of the stand, abandoning the keyboard and marching to centerstage, singing to Luke.

_And rise through the night!_

_You and I, we will fight_

_To shine together, bright forever!_

Julie sang the last line to the crowd, who ate it up, their cheers mixing with the music. Luke moved to his mic and launched into the next verse, while Julie turned to dance with Reggie, who grooved along with her.

_In times that I doubted myself,_

_Or felt like I needed some help,_

_Stuck in my head with nothing left._

Julie turned back to face Alex, who was bobbing his head along to the music. He grinned at her, and she grinned back, bobbing her head along to the beat.

_I feel something around me now,_

_So unclear, lifting me out._

_I found the ground I'm marching on._

Julie turned to watch as Reggie bounced over to Luke, sharing the mic on the pre-chorus as their voices mixed in harmony. She stayed back by the drums, glancing over to where Flynn and Trevor stood. Flynn was swaying to the beat, while Trevor was full on dancing with one of the older counselors, drink in hand.

_Life is a risk but we will take it,_

_Close our eyes and jump._

_Together I think that we can make it._

_Come on, let's run!_

Julie jumped back in, marching downstage as she belted 0ut the chorus. This time, Luke sang with her, singing the harmony and playing off her energy. Julie gazed out at the audience this time, reaching out her hand as she sang right to them. Some people reach back, and Julie brushed fingers with them.

_And rise through the night!_

_You and I, we will fight_

_To shine together, bright forever!_

_And rise through the night!_

_You and I, we will fight_

_To shine together, bright forever!_

Julie met Luke's gaze, his eyes reflecting the fire she felt inside. She stepped towards him, holding out her mic in invitation. He accepted, singing his verse as he walked with her to centerstage. His eyes didn’t leave hers as he sang.

_In times that I doubted myself,_

_Or felt like I needed some help,_

_Stuck in my head with nothing left._

Luke’s gaze was so intense that Julie turned, her back parallel to Luke’s chest, because if she didn’t she’d probably combust. She could feel the heat radiating off his body—the fire inside both of them must be real, after all—and she leaned forward with him as she sang.

_And when I feel lost and alone,_

_I know that I can make it home,_

_Fight through the dark, and find the spark!_

Luke jumped back to his mic as he, Reggie, and Alex sang the final chorus. Julie improvised, her voice soaring to high notes above the melody. This was what she'd been missing for a year. Every time a song came on the radio, or she heard someone humming, she had suppressed the urge to sing along. Now, all the energy and passion she had pent up inside her pulsed out of her. She felt unstoppable as all four of them belted out the last line.

_Bright forever!_

Julie punched the microphone in the air, out of breath as she stared at the crowd. They went wild, cheering and screaming with excitement, making Julie smile even more. Reggie and Luke appeared beside her, and she beamed at them both.

"Camp Rockers, give it up one more time for Sunset Curve and Julie Molina!" Trevor stepped onstage, throwing an arm around Reggie's shoulder as the crowd cheered again. "That brings us to the end of the Beach Jam! Don't forget to throw your trash out in the bins! Anyone caught littering will be given kitchen duty for a week! Goodnight!"

*******

Luke had never felt so alive in his life until that moment.

As they stepped offstage, his mind went a thousand miles a minute. Had he ever played a show so electric and full of energy? He couldn’t say he had. Their tours the past few years had been great, sure, but the energy then had mostly been the crowd, all of them too starstruck and infatuated with the band and their music to realize that the boys playing it didn’t love what they were playing in the slightest. After shows, he, Reggie, and Alex would just go back to their hotel and order pizza, sometimes falling asleep before they could even dial the number. Now, Luke couldn’t even imagine sitting still, let alone laying down. His whole body tingled, as if real electricity flowed through him. He could run a marathon, or swim the span of the lake in minutes. Hell, he could probably play a whole set if the Beach Jam hadn’t ended with them.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Flynn appeared, pouncing on Julie and crushing her in a hug. “Jules! You were amazing!” She squealed, pulling back to look at Julie. “They loved you. All of you.” She added, her eyes sliding over to the boys.

“Thanks, Flynn.” Julie replied sheepishly, before turning to Luke. “You are _so_ lucky that went well.”

“I had no doubts that it would.” Luke smirked, and Julie punched him in the arm in response.

“Julie, you were on fire!” Reggie cut in, clutching his bass strap excitedly. “The crowd loved you!”

“They loved us.” Julie mumbled. “It was all of us.”

Alex grabbed her by the shoulders. “Julie, as a semi-wise man once told me, own your awesomeness.”

A grin broke out on Julie’s face, stretching ear to ear. “Okay, I killed it.”

Luke opened his mouth to say the words he’d been itching to say all week—Will you join our band?—but before he could say a word, someone else called out.

“Julie!” They all turned—well, Julie whipped around, the rest of them turned their heads—as a boy jogged over to the group, beaming. He was a little taller than Julie, had blonde hair like Alex and was wearing a t-shirt for a lacrosse team Luke didn’t know. “That was incredible! You didn’t tell me you were singing tonight.”

“It was a last minute thing.” Julie replied, her voice higher than normal, much to Luke’s confusion. Was she...tense?

“I would’ve wished you luck. Not that you needed it.” He added with a wink, and Julie _giggled_. “Seriously, you were great.”

Luke couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. _Great_? Julie was far more than just ‘great.’ The performance she had just given could rival any artist Luke had ever seen, and she’d only been given less than a minute’s notice. Julie was incredible, outstanding, _spectacular_. Whoever this kid was should know that.

“Thanks, Nick.” Julie beamed, her smile almost syrupy. She turned to the guys suddenly, as if remembering they were there. “Nick, this is Luke, Reggie, and Alex. Boys, this is my friend Nick.”

“Hi!” Reggie chirped.

“Cool to meet you.” Alex said.

“‘Sup?” Luke nodded at him.

“Hey.” Nick raised a hand in greeting. “You guys were great, too. I’m a big fan.”

“Thanks.” Luke flashed him a smile, though this one didn’t really meet his eyes. He couldn’t fathom why, but looking at Nick left a sour taste in his mouth.

“Nick!” A shrill voice called a little ways away. The group all turned to see Carrie standing with arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.

Julie cringed. “She’s not happy.”

Nick turned back to Julie, an almost apologetic look in his eyes. “I’ll talk to her. Don’t worry about it.” He placed his hands on Julie’s shoulders, shaking her lightly. “You killed it, Molina. See you at dance?”

Julie smiled weakly. “See you at dance.”

Nick waved goodbye to the rest of them, before jogging over to Carrie, who started talking rapidly as he approached. Luke couldn’t hear her, but from the look on her face, it wasn’t good. The pair stalked off, Nick taking the brunt of whatever Carrie was saying.

“Girl, you made her _mad_.” Flynn mused.

“Great.” Julie groaned, dragging a hand down her face, before she shook her head, as if clearing her thoughts. “You know, I’m just gonna focus on the fact that we just had an awesome performance.”

“Atta girl.” Flynn threw an arm around Julie’s shoulders. “Don’t let the demon queen in your head.”

“Don’t call her that.” Julie mumbled, but Luke didn’t miss the corners of her lips turning up in a smile.

“I have to say, I’m impressed.” Trevor boomed as he appeared next to the group. “You gave quite the performance.”

“We were pretty great.” Reggie said haughtily, and Trevor ruffled his hair.

“Hype yourselves when you’re all back in your cabins, because curfew is in 2o minutes.” Trevor laughed, pushing Reggie towards the path. “You boys go on. I need to talk to Julie for a sec.”

“But—” Luke opened his mouth to protest, but Trevor cut him off.

“It can wait till morning.” Trevor told him semi-sternly, the smile not leaving his face. “You may be rockstars, but camp curfew applies to everyone. Even special guest counselors.”

“Yes, Trevor.” The boys all grumbled, before saying their goodbyes to Julie and Flynn and moving to join the retreating crowds.

As they walked away, Luke caught the first part of what Trevor was saying. “That performance could rival any Petal Pushers show I ever played....” Luke rolled his eyes. Trevor loved reliving his glory days. Luke felt bad that they’d left Julie with only Flynn to arm herself against Trevor’s walk down memory lane. His time in the Petal Pushers was legendary, Luke would admit, but why would poor Julie want to hear anything about it? When he glanced over his shoulder to look at Julie, though, she was smiling at Trevor’s words, as if they touched her soul, so Luke assumed it couldn’t be too annoying for her.

“Don’t look so glum.” Reggie nudged Luke in the side. “You can ask her to join the band tomorrow.”

“Yeah, we have plenty of time.” Alex added from his other side.

“I guess.” Luke muttered, but he couldn’t fight the satisfied look on his face for long. They had just crushed the Beach Jam, and all of his theories over the past week had been proven to be true.

There was definitely a future for Julie in Sunset Curve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> julie finally plays with sunset curve!!!!
> 
> what are your thoughts? why is carrie so pissed? why is luke so sour at nick? will they ever ask her to be in the band?
> 
> we’ll see ;) lmk your thoughts down below!


	10. This Band Is Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> voila! the next chapter! sorry for the delay, i just got back into my minecraft kick, and every time i got stuck writing this i would take a break and build a house lol

Luke was bouncing.

He had always been a very energetic person. His parents had hoped his constant energy would fizzle out by middle school, and that they could chalk it up to childish energy, but his energy quota only increased. The second he had shaken the haze of sleep off in the morning, he was racing from place to place. Fidget cubes, spinners, and stress balls had all failed at keeping him focused in school, and every term his report card came back with “Needs to focus” in the notes section. His parents had thrust a guitar in his hands when he was 12, and Luke had used it as an outlet for most of that energy. It seemed to placate him enough that his parents stopped worrying that he’d be even more of a nuisance in high school.

It worked, kind of. By the time Sunset Curve got signed to HGC Records, Luke had been about to go into his junior year, so he hadn’t had enough time to be labelled by the school faculty.

Now, though, there was no guitar to strum to let his energy loose, so Luke took to bouncing on the balls of his feet as they waited in line for breakfast.

“God, Luke, if you keep doing that, I’m going to snap.” Alex groaned, wiping at his eyes. While Luke and Reggie were considered morning people, Alex was quite the opposite.

“Aww, don’t say that, Alex. He’s excited.” Reggie threw and arm around the drummer, jostling him. “He’s like a puppy.”

“An _annoying_ puppy.” Alex grumbled.

“I don’t know how you aren’t as excited as I am, _Alexander_.” Luke scoffed in mock indignance. “Last night marks the beginning of a new era for Sunset Curve. We all should be excited.”

“I promise I’ll start bouncing off the walls once I’ve had my coffee.” Alex stifled a yawn. “Until then, be thankful I’m too tired to do anything.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Luke snorted.

Luke couldn’t comprehend it. The guys were acting like it was a normal Saturday morning, as if they hadn’t just played the most epic show of their lives last night. They had finally had a breakthrough and made a step towards becoming a more authentic Sunset Curve, and they had the audacity to twiddle their thumbs and wonder what was for breakfast. All Luke could think about was being onstage and wailing on his guitar as they played _Bright_....

....and Julie. Luke couldn’t think of _Bright_ and their epic performance without his mind going to Julie. He thought about how right she had looked under the stage lights, the mic in her hand as she belted out the lyrics. The boys were great, Luke knew that, but that girl had something special, something only so few musicians had. She had the fire.

And _so what_ if every time someone camp up to congratulate them on their performance that Luke talked their ear off about Julie? He barely noticed Reggie and Alex sharing knowing looks out of the corner of his eye, or that he was talking so much about Julie that the campers who had planned on asking them questions ended up standing their in silence as Luke went off. He was riding the high of their performance. It wasn’t as if the whole of Camp Rock wasn’t already talking about Julie Molina. Luke was just stoking the pre-existing fire.

When Luke’s bouncing didn’t die off—it might’ve gotten faster, actually—Alex let out another groan. “What is it now?”

“Do you think she’ll say yes?” Luke asked, the words jumping out of his mouth.

“Probably.” Alex shrugged.

Luke gaped at him. “ _Probably_?”

“Luke, you’re asking her to join the band, not marry you.” Alex deadpanned. “Aside from our dodgy reputation, she has no reason to not say yes.”

Reggie cringed, air hissing through his teeth. “Yeah, be glad the internet is too spotty to surf Buzzfeed. Their writers don’t like you very much.”

Luke pursed his lips, a sour expression falling on his face as his bouncing slowed to a halt. Ah yes, _Buzzfeed_. His oldest enemy. Ever since he’d hit the music scene, they were the first celebrity gossip outlet to deem him a ‘troubled boy.’ They loved Reggie and Alex, seeing them as ‘angels,’ the writers didn’t like him one bit. Maybe it was the ripped jeans. Or the rings. Or the sleeveless wardrobe.

“Hey, man, I’m sure she hasn’t read anything.” Alex assured him, seeing the look on his face. “If she did, I doubt she would’ve talked to you in the first place.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Luke shook his head, snapping him out his Buzzfeed filled mind, but even as his bouncing resumed, he couldn’t rid them completely from his mind. There were a lot of tabloids with unflattering articles about him out there. “I just really want her to say yes.”

“And _some_ of us really want to eat breakfast within the hour.” A voice sneered, and all three boys whipped their heads around to see Carrie standing behind them, her arms crossed and a sour look on her face. There was something else in her eyes, something Luke couldn’t place, but the girl was looking right at Luke, her eyes narrowed while gears seeemed to turn in her eyes. She looked away after a moment, scowling at the other two. “The line’s moving without you.”

“Sorry.” They grumbled, though Reggie seemed sincere, even flashing her an apologetic smile as they shuffled forward towards.

“I get why Flynn calls her a demon.” Luke whispered to Alex, who stifled a snort as the two broke out into silent laughter.

Luke couldn’t help glance over his shoulder at Carrie, only to find her still staring at look, gears still turning.

*******

Julie wasn’t sure how it happened.

Okay, yes, it was 100% because she sang _Bright_ with the guys last night. It was obvious how things had happened. But that didn’t mean it didn’t feel surreal to walk around camp and have people run up to her to talk about her performance.

Every five seconds, it seemed Julie was bombarded again by campers she didn’t know, but it was a completely different experience than when they’d been running up to her to grill her about Luke. Now, they were running up, gushing over her singing, askiing her a million questions about what it’d been like to be onstage, and a few younger kids even asked her for an autograph.

Flynn had watched with an amused look on her face, and usually had to pry Julie away from their grasp. “Looks like the Demon Queen of Camp Rock has some competition for her crown.” She chuckled while Julie waved goodbye over her shoulder.

Julie couldn’t help but laugh at that. There was no way....she couldn’t _actually_ be....no, it was a ridiculous thought, laughable, even. She dismissed it right away.

Still, she couldn’t help it when the thought eventually crawled back into her head after what felt like her hundreth ‘fan encounter,’ as Flynn fondly dubbed them.

Julie was _popular_.

Her newfound popularity was cursed, as it turned out, because she had been so busy talking to every camper and giving them her full attention that she hadn’t been able to find Luke, Reggie, or Alex all day. She had meant to catch them at breakfast, but ended up sleeping right through it—she’d stayed up well past midnight, too excited to sleep and rolling over every five minutes, so by the time she finally crashed she was exhausted. Now, Flynn and Julie were attempting to search the grounds for them, but the constant interactions weren’t helping.

“We’re never going to find them at this rate.” Julie groaned, dropping her head into her hands.

“It’s only, like, 11:30, Jules.” Flynn patted Julie’s shoulder comfortingly. “We have the whole day, and camp isn’t that big. We’ll find them.”

The sound of nearing chatter made Julie tense, and she looked at Flynn with a defeated look in her eyes. “Will we?”

Flynn narrowed her eyes in the direction of the oncoming campers. She turned to Julie and took her by both shoulders. “I won’t, but you will.” She pushed Julie towards the closet cabin. “ _Hide_!” She hissed, and Julie stumbled behind the cabin, concealed from any pathgoers.

She pressed herself flat against the cabin’s wall when she heard the campers approach Flynn. “Hey, you’re Julie’s friend, right?” One of them asked. “Have you seen her around?”

“That’s me.” Flynn replied, her voice bright. “And, no, I haven’t seen her. I think she might be in the ampitheater, though. I could take you, if you wanted.”

_Damn. She was good at lying._

“Ohmygod, that’d be perfect!” Another girl chimed, and they all began chattering away as Flynn lead them away from Julie. Flynn managed to throw her a secretive thumbs up before they rounded the corner, leaving Julie alone.

Letting out a breath, Julie stepped out from behind the cabin, leaning against the railing of the steps. She barely registered the sound of the cabin door opening and a group of people filing out. She didn’t even realize she wasn’t alone anymore until she turned to head down the path and came face to face with Carrie.

Julie jumped back in surprise. Carrie wasn’t alone, flanked by the other members of Dirty Candy, all of them dressed in leggings and athletic tops. They had apparently just finished rehearsing, their foreheads shiny with sweat. Did they ever take a break? Julie braced herself for a snide remark from Carrie, the image of her murderous expression from last night still burned in Julie’s brain..

“Julie!” Carrie’s voice had no trace of the venom Juile had expected, and was instead dripping with sweetness, which made Julie even more uneasy. “Just the person I was looking for.”

“Really?” Julie asked, her voice tight.

“Yes, _silly_.” Carrie flashed her a smile. It looked genuine, but Julie knew better. “We just wanted to say congrats on a great show last night.”

“Oh.” Julie straightened. “You did?”

“Of course!” The other girls all nodded, smiling with the same fake sweetness Carrie had. “And, don’t worry, no hard feelings. Everyone got their chance to shine. It was so great seeing you perform.”

“You and Luke sing well together.” Kayla added, before trading glances with Carrie. “No matter what the internet says, he’s a great performer.”

“What do you mean?” Julie asked, her brows pinching together.

“Oh, don’t mind her.” Carrie waved a hand dismissively in Kayla’s direction. “Kayla is a sucker for magazine and tabloid gossip. Especially when there’s so much of it on certain people.”

“Certain people? You mean Luke?” Julie’s eyes widened.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing you should worry about.” Carrie said. “Well, we won’t keep you. See you later!” She chirped, before the girls all walked away, leaving Julie in their wake.

What were they talking about? ‘No matter what the internet says?’ Did that mean there was a lot of stuff on Luke that Julie didn’t know? She had never been a Sunset Curve fan, her time taken up with working on her own music with her mom when they’d first taken off and shutting music out entirely the past year to start following them. It wasn’t as if she could start now; there wasn’t exactly service or access to Spotify in the middle of the woods. She knew they were famous, but was Luke famous for the wrong reasons?

Julie didn’t know how long she stood there for before she snapped out her thoughts. She had to find the guys. She could clear this up easily. They’d probably laugh at how worked up she got before knowing anything.

She made it to the cabin dubbed their rehearsal space in record time, and was pushing the screen door open mere minutes after her chat with Carrie. The guys were all huddled together next to the piano, and they all whipped around when Julie walked in, their grins covering their faces.

“Hey guys.” She greeted them, the screen door closing behind her. “What’s up?”

The trio looked at each other. “Who’s gonna start?” Reggie asked in a loud whisper.

“I will.” Alex whispered back, before looking back at Julie. “Okay, here goes.” He took a deep breath. “Julie—”

“ _We want you to join Sunset Curve_!” Luke cut him off, holding up a t-shirt Julie hadn’t seen before. The Sunset Curve logo was emblazened in the center of the chest, white letters with hints of neon green, orange, pink, and purple.

“I was gonna tell her!” Alex turned on Luke, who shrugged.

“You were taking too long.” He stated, before turning back to Julie with an expectant look in his eyes. “So? Will you?”

Julie looked at the t-shirt, then at the boys faces. It took about three seconds before a grin matching theirs spread on her face. She nodded, speechless, and the boys all cheered, before crushing her in a group hug.

When they finally pulled away, Luke held out the tshirt to Julie. “We didn’t know what size you were, and this was the only one we had on hand.” He said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

Julie held up the shirt to her chest. The shirt was about three times too big, but she could always crop it. “It’s perfect.” She said, beaming at Luke.

“This is the best day ever.” Reggie sighed happily.

“Agreed.” Alex added, his arm sliding around Julie’s shoulders.

Luke was so excited he looked like he was about to burst. “We have so much work to do.” He turned to the piano, snatching his notebook off the top. “The next Jam is coming up soon, and we’re already behind on writing songs.” As Luke launched into a tirade of things they absolutely had to get done before they finished for the day, Julie rolled her eyes with Reggie and Alex as all three of them moved to huddle around the piano next to Luke.

As they began to brainstorm, Julie pushed the questions she had to the back of her mind. Right now, Luke was bouncing around, too excited to sit as they all tossed out song and lyric ideas. It wasn’t the time to ask him about what the internet might’ve said about him. That’d be a mood killer. She could ask him later.

Still, she couldn’t ignore the tug in her chest every time she looked at Luke. She just hoped he was everything he seemed to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooo, what is carrie up to? and does this bode well for sunset curve? let me know what you think!! and thank you again for all the love and support on all of these chapters, it means a lot!!


	11. Easier In Theory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tada! i hope you enjoy this slightly longer chapter than usual.
> 
> spot this chapter’s camp rock reference ;)

Julie had really tried to ignore it.

Despite the fact that Carrie's words lingered in her brain, she had spent the entire week pushing the fact that there were a lot of tabloid articles about Luke Patterson out of her head. She figured it'd be easy, seeing as there wasn't enough service to get anything more than a phone call at camp, and even then the reception was spotty unless you climbed up on the roof of the Art Barn(which was an oddly common occurrence). Julie's phone basically lived in her beside table, the closest she'd gotten to using it being the first night there. If she couldn't look up anything, then she'd eventually forget about what Carrie had said, right?

Wrong.

The week following the Beach Jam, Julie had become hyperaware of the fact that everyone else at Camp Rock knew who Sunset Curve was and their history, Luke's history, the good, the bad, and the juicy all included. She'd pass campers on her way to classes and overhear Luke's name in their mix of whispers and speed away before she could hear anything else. Classes weren't any better; her fellow campers would take advantage of the free moments to talk about something they'd heard about Luke and some other celebrity Julie didn't know. She'd gotten very good at tuning them out, until they'd turn to her and ask her if she knew anything from the guys about so and so, because she obviously would know since they're playing together now, and she'd stutter out some excuse about how she was sworn to secrecy to cover up the fact that she had no idea.

The only break she got was in her dance class when she had Flynn, who intimidated everyone enough that they steered clear of them. Well, everyone except Nick. He'd migrated to the back row with them, joking around and vibing with Julie and Flynn thorughout the class. Julie found herself stifling laughter while the teacher went over basic combinations. In her time away, she'd forgotten how spot on his jokes always were. It was nice to have a break from the worrying and the gossip.

Her safe haven always dissappated the moment she and Nick parted ways, though, and being thrust back into the world of 'Everyone Knows Everything Excpet Julie' was the last thing she wanted to do.

There was an easy solution to her problem. She could just ask Luke. They had been meeting every day since the Beach Jam, brainstorming song ideas and improvising melodies over vairous chord progressions. Julie had even dug out her old songbook, silently thanking her tia for forcing her to pack it. The pages were filled with old songs, most unfinished, and she and Luke had been poring over the pages, searching for the next hit.

It was easier in theory.

"Now this is what I call a successful brainstorming session." Luke stated as the group began packing away the instruments.

"You've said that after every rehearsal this week." Alex replied, and Julie and Reggie laughed.

"And I've been right each time." Luke shot back.

"It'd be a successful brainstorming session if we had lyrics to go with the chords." Julie said as looked over the fruits of their labor. They'd only managed to fill half a notebook page with lyrics that had popped into their head, and it wasn't even close to a whole song.

"We'll get there." Luke assured, appearing at her side and tugging the songbook towards him. "We're on the edge of something great, I can feel it." They both paused, meeting each others' eyes before Julie snatched the pencil off the piano and scribbled the words down on the page.

"That could be good." Julie murmured, tapping the eraser against her lips. "It wouldn't be ready for this this week's Jam, but maybe the one after?"

"Ooo, if we need a song for the Sunday Jam I've had _Home Is Where My Horse Is_ ready for ages." Reggie chimed in.

"We're not doing it." Luke said flatly. "No country."

"What's wrong with country?" Julie asked, and Luke shook his head almost in warning, but she saw it too late, and Reggie's face lit up. Behind Reggie, Alex facepalmed.

"What you should be asking is what isn't wrong with country." The bassist began, leaning his head on his hand. "It's one of the most richest forms of musical storytelling—"

"You know, I bet we could pull of a pretty good cover, if we're stuck on a song." Alex slid his arm around Reggie's shoulders as he cut in, stopping the rant before it could go on for too long. "Trevor has been asking us to sample a Petal Pushers song for ages."

Julie's grip on the pencil tightened. Beside her, Luke noddded thoughtfully. "You know, _Killer Queen_ is right in Julie's range, and has an awesome guitar feature in the middle." He looked at Julie, and she felt like squirming under his bright gaze. "You know the Petal Pushers, right?"

"No, I've never heard of them." She lied, ignoring the squeeze in her chest. (Another thing Julie wasn't sure how to deal with—the fact that, to the boys, her mom was a legend. One problem at a time.)

"Never heard of Sunset Curve, never heard of Rose and the Petal Pushers." Luke shook his head with mock disappointment. "Do you live under a rock?"

Julie forced a laugh. "Something like that."

"We'll culture you yet." Luke nudged her shoulder, and Julie felt her fake smile soften into a real one as she relaxed. Luke had that effect—always finding a way to make her feel at ease. He seemed to be that way with everyone; one of the rare times Julie had seen Reggie frustrated over a bass riff, Luke had made a joke and Reggie dissolved into laughter, and when Alex was often worried about teaching his drum class, Luke could calm him down by going through the chords to a song from Taylor Swift's new album.

Ask him now, a voice in Julie's head (that sounded a lot like Flynn's) whispered. Right as Julie opened her mouth say something, though, Luke's attention dropped to her notebook, and he tapped it lightly with his finger. "Got any songs in there we could use?"

The moment gone, Julie suppressed a sigh and turned to the notebook. "There are a few unfinished ones we could look at." She said as she flipped through the pages full of songs she'd started, some written with her mom and some without. It was easier looking through the pages than she'd expected, admiring the slanted cursive next to her loopy handwriting through the pages.

"We'll leave you two to look through them." Alex said. "Reg and I are gonna head over to the Art Barn."

"Are you hanging with Willie again?" Luke asked, trading a knowing look with Reggie.

Alex turned pink. "Yes. No. He's just teaching me how to make pottery." He sputtered, crossing his arms. "It's not really hanging out. I don't think."

Luke opened his mouth to say more, probably to ask something that'd make Alex even more flustered, and Julie elbowed him in the side. "Either way, have fun.” She said, her arms slipping around Alex and Reggie’s waist and guiding them towards the door. “Make me a vase!” She added as the two boys started making their way down the path. Behind her, she could hear Luke plucking out a few notes on the piano.

As she shut the screen door, Julie paused to listen to Luke’s playing. He would often times pluck away at the piano when looking at lyrics, waiting for a melody to come to him. This time, though, the notes flowed together, as if it was one he already knew. As he played it again, this time faster as he became more familiar with it, Julie recognized the melody and she stiffened.

Whipping around, Julie saw Luke was standing above the keys, Julie’s songbook propped open on top of the piano. He had flipped to a page witha dogeared corner, and Julie knew without looking that both pages were filled with lyrics, one of the only complete songs in the book.

“When did you write this?” Luke asked without looking up. “This song is killer.”

“I wrote it awhile ago.” Julie moved over the grab the songbook, but Luke pulled it towards him before she could snatch it away.

“Why don’t we use this one for the next Jam?” Luke asked, his finger tracing the lyrics. “We could add some great harmonies and backing. And I love the hook.” He hummed the melody to himself, before singing, “ _My life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo without you._ ”

“It’s probably not a good fit for the band.” Julie said, reaching to take it from him, and Luke gave her a confused look.

“Are you kidding? This would be great for the band.” Luke was beaming at the pages, as if he was staring at the answer to all of their problems. The bright look on his face made Julie’s stomach squirm with guilt. “This is exactly the feel we need. It’s authentic, real. Who’s it about?” He added as he read a few more lines.

“No one.” She snapped, and Luke jumped at the edge in her voice.

He finally tore his eyes off the notebook, and, seeing Julie’s face, frowned. “Why are you upset?” He asked, concern lacing his voice, and Julie felt a wave of guilt wash over her.

“I just...” Julie dropped her gaze. “It’s not a song I want anyone playing.” Before Luke could say anything else, she looked up and held out her hand. “Please, Luke.”

He was quiet for a moment, before handing the songbook back. “Sorry.” He murmured, scratching at the back of his neck. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s fine.” Julie mumbled, stuffing the notebook in her bag. “I should probably go.”

“Yeah, okay.” Luke said. As Julie turned to leave, he caught her hand. “Hey.” He murmured softly, and Julie met his apolgetic gaze. “I didn’t mean to overstep. I know I can get carried away.”

Julie’s eyes softened, and she relaxed. “It’s okay.” She squeezed his hand reassuringly. “See you at dinner?”

“See you then.” He grinned, squeezing her hand back, and Julie smiled back, before turning and heading out of the cabin.

It only occurred to her as she walked away that she had missed another chance to ask Luke what she wanted to know, and she facepalmed.

Like she said. Easier in theory.

*******

".....and this kid has the audacity to ask why I was upset." Flynn threw her hands up, and Julie suppressed a laugh at her friend’s dramatics. “As if he hadn’t ruined my hair. I mean, some people are just so dense.”

Julie hummed in agreement as her fingers deftly unraveled the rest of the braid she’d been working on. Flynn had come back from her free block fuming, her hair still damp from an attempt to salvage her braids. She’d quickly informed Julie that some camper and his friend had been running down a path when they’d rounded the corner and smacked right into her, knocking her right into a holly bush. Her hair had taken the brunt of it, getting broken off twigs and leaves stuck in the braids, and Flynn had enlisted Juile’s help to undo them. They’d been sitting there for 45 minutes already, Julie sitting on her bed and Flynn on the floor in front of her, both arms with scissors and nimble fingers, and Julie had listened to Flynn go off about the idiotic monster who had ran into her.

Julie appreciated the opportunity to be silent, since it gave her plenty of time to think about exactly what she was going to do about the lingering anxiety over Carrie’s insinuations. Flynn hadn’t noticed, too wrapped up in her rant, which meant Julie could run through every option she had in her head. She’d already gone down a third of her list of ways to ask Luke, including all the ways it could go wrong.

As she ran through scenario number seventeen—this one involving an elaborate lie where Julie claimed Ray was a big-wig entrepeneur in China with his own high-end fashion store—when Flynn elbowed her in the leg.

 _“Ow!”_ Julie winced, dropping the braid and rubbing her leg. “What was that for?”

“You’re not listening.”

“Yes I am!”

“Julie, I just talked about how I think elephants are going to the moon for the last 20 seconds, and you pretended to agree with me.” Flynn deadpanned, and Julie’s cheeks flushed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Julie told her. “I’m just thinking.”

“Uh-huh.” Flynn turned to look at Julie. “Does this have anything to do with a certain guitarist’s history?”

“No.” Julie scoffed, ignoring Flynn’s disbelieving look. “I wasn’t.” She insisted, quickly snatching the braid she’d been working on and resuming her work.

“So you wouldn’t care if I told you he drove one of Beyonce’s cars into her swimming pool?” Flynn said, and Julie froze.

 _“He did?”_ She squeaked, her voice high.

“ _No_!” Flynn shot back. “I made that up.”

“How was I supposed to know that?” Julie cried.

Flynn groaned, swatting Julie's hands away from her hair and scrambling to her feet. She marched over to her bed, dropping to her knees and reaching her arm under, before pulling out a shoebox and turning to Julie. The box was plain, with a generic shoe logo on the side that Julie didn't recognize. Julie furrowed her brow when Flynn pushed it into her hands.

"What is it?" Julie asked.

"Open it." Flynn stated, crossing her arms. Even with only half of her hair braided, she was intimidating as ever. Her set burned into Julie enough that she hurried to open the shoebox's lid.

"This better be— _Oh my god_." Julie's jaw dropped as she opened the box.

She didn't know what she'd been expecting. Shoes were the logical answer, but instead Julie was greeted by a Sunset Curve fan's fever dream. Taped along the inside of lid box was the Sunset Curve logo, along with cutout pictures of Alex, Luke, and Reggie. Each cutout had clearly been done carefully cut and pasted by hand, the wrinkles smoothed out of the paper. Surrounding the cutouts were doodles of music notes, song lyrics, and more glitter than Julie had ever seen in her life. The highlight of the box was a stack of magazines, the sides of the box padded with lavender tissue paper. The top cover was a blown up picture of Luke, red in the face and angry as he stormed out a pair of glass doors. Above it, in big block letters, read, ' _Sunset Curve Summer Tour Cancelled: Is Frontman Luke Patterson To Blame?_ '

Julie's fingers traced over the cover, circling Luke's face. "Why do you have these?"

"Like every other teenage girl aside from you, I am a Sunset Curve stan." Flynn shrugged as she flipped her remaining braids over her shoulder. "This collection has been refined over the last three years, and contains articles on every noteworthy event in the Sunset Curve timeline. There's stuff on all three boys, but it's mostly about Luke. You can loan it from me."

Julie's hand cringed away from the cover, guilt creeping into her chest. "I don't know..."

"Jules, just read it." Flynn's hands found her shoulders, and Julie looked up to meet her eyes. "You have been holding out all week, and I'm impressed. Nobody else would've lasted that long, especially me. But now is the time where you cut your losses and get with the program, because everyone else knowing this stuff is stressing you out, which is stressing me out. And if it freaks you out after, you can just ask Luke about it. Okay?"

Julie sighed, before nodding. "Okay."

"Great." Flynn straighted, before reclaiming her spot on the floor. "You're waiting until after my hair is done, because there is no way in hell I am leaving this cabin before then."

*******

Luke buried his hands in his pockets as he strolled down the pathway, bathed in the light from the full moon above. Nobody else was out and about, probably because it was almost 10 o’clock and most campers had curfew. Having counselor immunity from curfew was a welcome part of coming back to Camp Rock. It’s not like he didn’t go out after curfew when he was a camper. Now, he wouldn’t get in trouble for it.

He checked his watch. 9:56. He was right on track to be early to meet Julie, who wasn’t going to get there until 10:30. The dock was on the opposite side of camp, but Luke was the champion of speedwalking. Alex and Reggie had refused to go on walks with him, claiming he would never slow down to match their pace. He’d scoff at them. It wasn’t his fault they were going too slow.

As Luke walked, he thought about Julie. Not about her voice this time, or her insane talent, but about their interaction earlier that day. It’d been after another rehearsal/brainstorming session, three days after Luke had accidentally upset her by reading _Flying Solo_ , and Julie had been acting a bit off since then. She seemed more tense, more on edge. At first, Luke had worried he’d really crossed a line by reading her song—he still couldn’t figure out who it was about for the life of him. The date was from two summers ago, so it was too old to be about Flynn, but that ruled out Luke’s only suspect, since he didn’t know any of Julie’s other friends—but she’d seemed more distant than anything, and had passed her song book to him without a second thought. Luke still worried, glancing over at her more than he usually did to make sure she was okay.

At the end, after Alex and Reggie had packed up and bid them goodbye, Julie had turned to Luke. “Hey, could I talk to you about something?”

“Yeah, anything.” Luke told her. “Is something wrong?” He added, seeing the conflicted look cross her face, as if she was arguing with herself.

“Yeah, I think.” Julie replied. “I just wanted to talk about....something.”

“Will it take long?” Luke asked, before hastily adding, “Not that I don’t want to, I just have a class in ten minutes, and I don’t want to cut you off.”

“Oh.” Julie pursed her lips. “We could talk later, then.”

“How about tonight?” Luke asked. “We could meet on the dock after the campfire?”

“Sure.” Julie had nodded, giving him a small smile. “Tonight.”

Now, Luke kicked a rock along the path as he passed one of the dance studios. As he punted the rock a few feet ahead of him, Luke heard the sound of laughter and paused. He glanced around, looking for the source of the noise. The second time it echoed around him, Luke moved towards it. As the path winded down towards the camper cabins, he saw a small group of girls walking towards him. It took him a second to place them, but as they grew closer, Luke recognized Carrie and the rest of her group.

They spotted him a moment after. “Hi Luke!” Carrie chirped, waggling her fingers at him in greeting. The girls echoed her, all of them giggling

“Hey.” Luke nodded at the girls. “What’s up?”

“Just taking a stroll.” Carrie smiled. “It seems we had the same idea.”

“Seems like it.” Luke ran a hand through his hair. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be asleep?”

“Perks of being Trevor’s niece.” Carrie shrugged. “If I ask the counselors to be asleep before 10, they tend to make themselves scarce. All except you, of course.” She added playfully.

“Right.” Luke nodded, before glancing down the path towards his destination. “Well, enjoy your stroll.” He told them, turning to head back on his path. Carrie’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Don’t go so soon.” She grinned, tugging Luke back. “We’re going to meet some of the other campers in The Pit. You should come. It’ll be fun.” Luke raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised. The Pit, fondly dubbed by the older campers, was a spot in the woods right outside camp where the high schoolers went to hang out after dark. Luke used to go with Alex and Reggie when they were campers to drink and joke around with the other kids, feeling on top of the world. It was the only bit of rebellion Luke had really had in his life, his parents too observant for him to go out with friends during the school year.

“I can’t, I’m supposed to meet Julie.” Luke told her, and Carrie’s face dropped into a pout.

“Come on, please?” She asked, dropping her hand to his arm. “Just for a little bit?”

Luke wanted to say no right away, tell her he had better places to be, that he promised to meet Julie, but he hesitated. If it were anyone else, he’d say no without a second thought, but Carrie was Trevor’s niece. The day Luke had called him to arrange their visit to Camp, Trevor had immediately told him how happy Carrie would be to hear they were coming.

Luke glanced at his watch. 10:02. He could spare 20 minutes, right?

“I’ll come for a little bit.” Luke conceded. “But I’m not staying. I have to meet Julie at the docks.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get there in time.” Carrie promised, her voice sweet as she looped her arm through Luke’s and pulled him into the trees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what did you guys think? lmk down below!
> 
> also, i did some research about taking out braids like flynn has, since i wanted to make sure that i had an accurate description of what it was actually like. if i got anything wrong, let me know and i’ll fix it!
> 
> i will probably have to roll back updates to once or twice a week. school has kicked into overdrive and i have some college things to focus on, so no more updates every 2-3 days. one update will be guaranteed a week, though, and i’ll try and make them longer!
> 
> again, tysm for all the love and comments. they make my day!


	12. The Pit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m back!! 
> 
> sorry for the small hiatus. i decided to take a break for the holidays, but now i am back to semi-regular updates! i will try and put out a new chapter every week or so, and i’ll try and do more lengthy chapters when i can!
> 
> anyway, enjoy!!
> 
> (no betaing for me🤪)

Back when Luke was a measly 15 year old nobody, parties at the Pit had been a new tradition started by the high schoolers a few years before. Luke, Alex, and Reggie had been one of the few people to party there on weekends, everyone else too scared of stumbling onto a wild patch of poison oak, or for a snake to pop out of nowhere to venture out into the woods. The few campers who did make an appearance sat on the clump of rocks and had a small campfire, sometimes bringing an acoustic to jam out wigth and sharing sips of a beer they’d smuggled in with them. There was never enough to get tipsy, let alone drunk, but the intimate jokes and conversation put Luke on a high better than booze could. One of those nights had inspired Luke so much he’d written Now or Never in one sitting.

The Pit Luke followed Carrie into now was nothing like he remembered.

Whatever overgrown ivy or bushes had been cleared away to make room for mismatched chairs and almost half a dozen coolers. The rocks Luke had hung out of were still there, now occupied by campers. In place of the small campfire was a bonfire, the flames brightening area. (Luke had checked, it was contained properly. At least they followed forest fire safety guidelines.) There wasn’t an instrument in sight, and instead someone had brought a speaker that was playing some generic pop song. Nobody was even listening to the music, just using it as background noise for their conversations.

One sweep of the clearing confirmed Luke’s suspicion. He was the oldest one here, the rest of the group made up of high schoolers. It dawned on Luke that not only was he the oldest, but he was a counselor among campers breaking curfew and a few other rules. The realization brought him to a halt.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be here.....” Luke glanced at Carrie, who smiled and took his arm.

“Oh, c’mon, you’re telling me that the Luke Patterson is afraid of a little party?” She giggled, playfully glaring at him. The gesture was casual, as if they were old friends. Luke resisted the urge to squirm under her gaze. “It’s just for a little bit. Don’t worry, we don’t go crazy.” She added, before pulling him along, her friends at their heels.

Luke glanced over his shoulder towards the way they’d come as Carrie pulled him to the cooler. The trek here alone had taken at least 10 minutes. He didn’t want to keep Julie waiting. As he went to check his watch, Carrie pressed a drink into his hands, the sides of the can slick from condensation.

“You have to try this.” She urged, watching him expectantly. “It’s got a fruity taste that you’ll love.”

Luke didn’t want to, but her eyes were boring into him so much he popped the tab of the drink and took a sip. It was fruity, with a sugary kick that Luke surprisingly enjoyed enough to take another sip.

“Told you.” Carrie grinned, opening and taking a swig from her can. “Kayla’s sister knows how to sneak it past mail inspection, so we’re basically set for the summer. When you’re done with that, you should try the cherry flavor.”

“I think I’m only gonna stay for one.” Luke told her, and, for a split second, he could’ve sworn Carrie’s smile dropped. He blinked, and her smile was back, full force. He must’ve imagined it.

“That’s totally cool.” She looped her arm through Luke’s, leading him to a small cluster of campers. “I’ve got to introduce you to Jenna and Donnie before you go, they’ve been dying to meet you.”

*******

10:47. Luke was 17 minutes late.

Julie let out a huff as she checked her watch for the tenth time, trying to push down the worry that threatened to overtake her. So what if Luke was a little late? He probably got held up by something completely normal, or had a rush of inspiration that he had to scribble it into his songbook before it slipped out of his mind. She was worrying for nothing.

Still, her insides squirmed as the minutes passed and it grew closer to 11:00. Julie glanced down where Flynn’s box of tabloids rested on the dock beside her.Pieces of various articles she’d read flashed in her mind. Unreliable. Party-crazed. Irresponsible. Julie cringed, averting her gaze as if looking away could change what she was thinking. What she’d read was way far off from the Luke she’d gotten to know the last two weeks. It was just exageration.

Footsteps on the dock brought her out of her thoughts. Julie straightened, whipping her head around, Luke’s name already on the tip of her tongue.

“Hey Molina.” Nick grinned at her.

The words died in her mouth, and Julie deflated. “Oh, hey Nick.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her. “Not happy to see me?”

“I am!” She reassured, too deep in her worry to get flustered. “I’m just...waiting for someone.”

“No sweat, I get it.” Nick nodded at the empty space next to her. “Can I keep you company till they get here?”

“Yeah, sure.” Julie moved the box out of the way, and Nick dropped down, his legs dangling next to hers.

“You’re waiting on Luke, right?” Nick asked, and Julie nodded. “I figured. Are you guys working on a new hit song?”

“Not exactly.” Julie fiddled with her hands. “What are you doing out this late?” She asked, trying to change the subject.

“Just felt like going for a walk.” He shrugged, before his eyes glimmered mischeviously. “You know, kinda like that time we felt like taking a canoe for a midnight outing.”

Julie gasped, shoving him playfully with her shoulder. “You mean that time you tricked me into stealing a canoe!” She sniped back.

“If my memory serves me right, you were the one paddling us out into the middle of the lake.” Nick laughed, and Julie felt her cheeks flush.

“I had to because someone decided not to pull their weight.” Julie rolled her eyes, sticking up her nose in fake annoyance.

“Wow, was that an actual comeback? I didn’t know you had it in you.”

”Ha ha.” Julie retorted.

Nick jumped into a dramatic retelling of their canoe-stealing adventures, and Julie pushed Luke to the back of her mind, for now. He’d be there soon, right? 

*******

Luke had _really_ underestimated the amount of liquid one singular can could hold.

He’d been nursing the fruity drink for a while, knowing that the second he inhaled the last drop out of it he had to jog back through the woods to meet Julie. The minutes were dragging on, and he’d managed to meet a dozen new people and barely made progress. He made sure to take a sip every minute or so, just so it wasn’t sitting for too long. _I guess time is slowing down tonight_ , Luke thought.

On the plus side, the people Carrie was introducing him to were pretty interesting. Luke found himself getting into their brief conversations, and would even pull out one of his stories from tour, getting so into it that he’d hand his drink to Carrie so he could animate the memories with his hands.

The drink was stronger than he’d orignally thought, Already, his mind was feeling fuzzy after less than half a can. Luke wasn’t a lightweight, either, which meant the drink must’ve been hard liquor. Carrie, surprisingly, wasn’t even getting tipsy depsite having had more than him, which gave her a whole new picture in Luke’s mind.

Actually, Carrie wasn’t everything Luke had originally thought. She was keeping him moving, helping him make the rounds before his departure and laughing on cue at his stories, even when he repeated a few for a new group of people. She’d stayed by his side the short time he’d been there, despite Kayla frequently appearing with a new drink for her every few minutes and telling her something under her breath excitedly.

“You know, you can go mingle if you want.” Luke told her after a few minutes. “I’m pretty good at parties.”

Carrie looked at him endearingly, her gaze one that reminded Luke of the way she might look at a puppy who couldn’t figure out how a doggie door worked. “I don’t mind at all.” She said with a smile. “Besides, everyone has been asking me to introduce you.”

“Still, I should probably get going.” Luke said, swirling the can around. “I don’t want to be late.” He glanced down at his arm, lifting it to check his watch, but Carrie grabbed it suddenly, tugging him to another clump of campers.

“You have, like, five minutes.” Carrie reassured. “Just tell these guys the L.A. story and finish your drink, and then you can dip. I promise.”

Luke pursed his lips, before nodding. “Yeah, sure.” He said, letting Carrie pull him along with her yet again.

*******

Julie gripped her sides as they convulsed with laughter. Beside her, Nick was wiping away tears from the corners of his eyes, laughing almost as hard as she was.

“I can’t believe you managed to do that without getting caught.” Julie managed to wheeze out between laughs.

“I can’t believe Trevor never noticed!” Nick snorted. “He didn’t even notice that I edited the staff photo either! He sent it out to everyone in the newsletter!”

“My dad was so confused.” Julie sighed happily. “Poor Ray had to call Trevor and ask him why Gary Busey was photoshopped over his face!”

“Poor Ray.” Nick agreed as he calmed down. He stared at Julie for a moment, a small smile on his face.

“What?” Julie asked, her breathing returning to normal.

Nick ducked his head sheepishly. “Nothing, I just...” He looked back up at her, and Julie couldn’t remember if his cheeks had been pink a moment before. “I missed you.”

Julie flushed, and hoped the darkness of night concealed it. “I missed you too.” She sighed, smiling back.

“Last summer wasn’t the same without you.” Nick murmured, and Julie looked away, her heart squeezing. “I don’t think I said it yet, but I’m really sorry. About Rose.”

“Thanks.” Julie sighed, feeling her chest loosened. She took a calming breath. She was okay. “It just feels different without her here. I miss her.”

“I miss her, too.” Nick said, and Julie laid her hand on top of his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Nick flipped his hand, lacing his fingers through hers and squeezing back. It was a comforting gesture, Julie knew, but that didn’t stop the butterflies from going wild in her stomach. “And I agree, it definitely is different this summer.”

“In more ways than one.” Julie added, pulling her hand away and tucking a stray hair behind her ear. Nick glanced at her, an eyebrow raised in a silent quesiton. “You know. You and Carrie.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess.” Nick looked away. “Trust me, I was as surprised as you are.”

“Really?” Julie asked, furrowing her brow. What was that supposed to mean?

“I mean, I thought last summer was gonna go differently.” Nick shrugged, his eyes on the lake. “None of thought you’d leave so soon, obviously, and then a few weeks later Carrie asked me out. I guess if you hadn’t had to leave.....” Nick bit his lip, as if considering his next words. “I dunno, I guess you were gone before something else could happen.” He said finally, looking at Julie.

 _Something else?_ Julie thought. _What does he mean? He couldn’t mean...._ Julie’s eyes widened. _Does he mean he would’ve asked me out if I’d been around?_

Julie was suddenly hyper aware of how close the two had gotten over the time they’d spent trading old stories from past summers. Their shoulders were pressed together, and their legs were brushing against each other when they swung over the lake’s surface. Julie gulped nervously, gauging the distance between their heads. They were definitely close.

Nick stared back at her, an unreadable expression on his face. Was she crazy, or did he just lean in? The motion was slight, but Julie was acutely aware of how they were only inches apart. She could hear Flynn in her head, egging her on. _You got this girl! Make a move!_

But an old memory of Carrie rose above her other thoughts, her smile wide as she laughed hard at something Julie had said, and guilt crept through Julie’s chest. She cleared her throat, looking away. Even if she had the courage, she would never do that to Carrie.

Nick cleared his throat. “When do you think Luke is coming?” He asked, and Julie silently thanked him for changing the subject.

She checked her watch. 11:26. “Your guess is as good as mine.” She huffed, eyeing the water below.

She could see Nick turn to look at her out of the corner of her eye. “You okay?”

“Yeah. No. I don’t know.” Julie sighed. “I just really needed to talk to him about something. It was important.”

“Does it have anything to do with whatever’s in that box?” Nick asked, nodding at where Flynn’s box sat behind them. He pulled it over. “May I?” He asked, his hands hovering over the lid, and Julie nodded. He flicked open the cover, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Wow.”

“That’s Flynn’s masterpiece.” Julie said drily.

Nick picked up the top magazine. “Ah. I was wondering when you’d find his infamous reputation.”

“Not you too.” Julie groaned, her hands coming up to cover her face. “Am I really that out of the loop?”

“Julie, you once told me that you only went on Buzzfeed for their Harry Potter quizzes.”

“I like to test my knowledge on the Potter lore!” She cried.

Nick started laughing, and Julie joined in with him, unable to fight a smile from her face, the tension from moments completely forgotten.

“ _Luke Patterson: Heartthrob or Homewrecker?_ ” Nick read aloud, giving Julie an amused look. “This one sounds juicy.” He said, thumbing through the pages to find the start of the article. He cleared his throat dramatically, beginning to read aloud. “ _To the teenagers of the world, Luke Patterson is the ideal partner, but rumors have been circulating about this singer’s sketchy behavior....”_

*******

_Damn_ , this party was great.

Luke threw back his head as he let out a barking laugh. One of the campers—Robbie? Ronnie?—was telling one of the funniest stories Luke had ever heard. Something about the Bahamas, a rogue seagull, and a taco buffet, Luke couldn’t really remember. All he knew was that the ending was hysterical.

Beside him, Carrie was grinning as she took a sip of her drink. Luke tapped her knee against his, holding up his can. “What is this stuff called, anyway?” He asked, his words slurring together.

She smirked at him. “The right word for it would be _delicious_.”

Luke couldn’t help but giggle. “You’re funny.”

Carrie tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I know.”

As the other campers migrated back to the coolers, all needing a refill, Luke drummed on the surface of the rock he and Carrie were lounging on. “ _Dada, dada, real low zero, da da da dadada, oohhh._ ” He began singing, bobbing his head.

Carrie whipped her head around to look at him. “Where did you hear that?” She asked, her voice edged, but Luke didn’t mind. She had a nice voice regardless.

“It was in Julie’s songbook.” Luke told her, humming another line. “It’s a really good song. She didn’t want us to play it, though. Sucks. It’s a good, good song.”

Carrie sighed, looking away. “Yeah, it is.” She muttered.

“Julie is just the best.” Luke sighed, grinning as he sprawled back on the rock. The stone was cool against his skin. “Her voice is just....” Luke threw his free hand up in the air above him, gesturing wildly. “Y’know?”

“I know.” Carrie replied, and Luke heard the crinkle of aluminum as her grip on her drink tightened.

“She just sings!” Luke dropped his hand on his chest. “The way she sang at the Beach Jam on the spot. Best singing I’ve heard ever.” He slurred, his grin turning syrupy as he thought about that performance, and also the fact that he felt tingly all over.

“Of course, nobody else would get to play at a Jam without signing up.” Carrie muttered. “But she gets to because she’s Julie and she gets to do whatever she wants because of her mom.” Luke glanced at Carrie, whose face didn’t match the anger in her tone. Instead, Luke thought she looked more sad than angry. Like she was missing something.

“What about her mom?” Luke asked, sitting up and taking a long swig of the drink.

Carrie’s eyes widened slightly, and, if Luke didn’t know any better, he would think she was panicking. “Nothing!” She said quickly. “Just that her mom was the frontwomen of a really big band.”

“What band?” Luke asked, leaning towards Carrie.

“Rose and The Petal Pushers.” Carrie said, not meeting his eyes. “The same band Trevor was in before he went solo. They were huge.”

“No, that can’t be right.” Luke’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Julie said she doesn’t know The Petal Pushers.”

Carrie’s face flashed with panic, and suddenly she was shoving her drink towards Luke. “You should try this flavor!” She said, her cheerful tone louder and more forceful than it had been before. She had plastered on a sweet smile, wider than it had been all night. It didn’t meet her eyes.

Luke pushed it away. “Julie lied?” He asked, still confused. “Why woulld she lie?”

“Who knows?” Carrie said. “Who cares? Tell me more about your tour.” She pushed, leaning towards Luke.

“I told you everything already.” Luke waved her off. “I gotta ask Julie why she lied.” Luke furrowed his brow.

“Have you finished your drink yet?” Carrie pressed, and Luke tried to block her out, her presence distracting his thoughts. Forgetting the can was in his hand, Luke turned his wrist to look at his watch and make sure he was on track to meet Julie at the right time. The remainder of the drink spilled out, dousing his shoes, but Luke barely noticed, squinting at the face of his watch.

11:56 p.m.

“Shit!” Luke cried, jumping to his feet. He braced against the rock, nearly stumbling over. “I’m late!”

“Luke, wait a second—” Carrie’s hand was on his arm, but Luke shook it off, beginning to half-run, half-stumble back towards the path leading back to camp.

 _Shit shit shit shit_ —

*******

11:56.

“I don’t think he’s coming.” Julie finally admitted aloud.

“Maybe he got held up with something.” Nick offered. Julie sent him a skeptical look. “I’m serious, Molina. Don’t let those articles go to your head. Tabloid writers are ruthless.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right.” She sighed, picking up Flynn’s box as she stood and holding it tight to her chest. “I’m gonna head back to my cabin.”

“I’ll walk you.” Nick jumped to his feet.

They walked the majority of the way back in silence. Julie’s mind was too full to try and keep up polite chitchat. Nick seemed to sense her inner turmoil, and he broke the silence as they passed the mess hall.

“Julie, I’m sure there’s a reason he didn’t show.” He said. “He doesn’t seem like the type to blow you off.” When Julie didn’t respond, Nick stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. “You’re doing that thing.”

“What thing?” Julie mumbled.

“The thing where you think too much about something.” Nick said, and Julie let out a weak laugh. “Just give him the benefit of the doubt. You know Luke. Does he really seem like the irresponsible and inconsiderate asshole those magazine make him out to be?”

Before Julie could respond, a snapping noise in the trees behind them made the pair turn. They squinted, peering into the dark, and jumped back when someone stumbled out. Julie could smell the reek of smoke and beer from where she stood.

Julie’s stomach dropped as she recognized who was standing in front of her.

“Luke?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another cliffhangar? i’m just too evil heheh
> 
> what is luke going to say to julie? what happened between julie and nick? is luke really the bad boy the media makes him out to be? 
> 
> you’ll find out next chapter mwahaha
> 
> let me know your thoughts!!


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